Germany becomes the SKAO’s newest member
The news comes 18 months after the announcement of Germany’s intention to join by the German Federal Research Minister, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, during her visit to the SKA-Mid telescope site in South Africa’s Northern Cape in March 2023.
This brings the Observatory’s member states to 12, with more countries in the process of joining.
"There is still much to discover and explore in our universe. As the world's largest radio telescope arrays, the SKAO super telescopes in South Africa and Australia will revolutionise our understanding of the universe in the coming decades,” Minister Stark-Watzinger said.
“By Germany joining the SKAO, we are enabling researchers from Germany to be right at the forefront. During my visit to South Africa in March last year, I was able to see the enormous potential of the radio telescope for science."
The announcement marks the culmination of decades of German involvement in the SKA project. Germany contributed to six of the SKAO’s engineering design consortia, including substantial contributions to the SKA-Mid dish design and prototyping by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) and German industrial partner MT Mechatronics (MTM). The final design of the SKA-Mid dishes was a collaboration between MTM and China’s CETC54.
Germany has a vibrant radio astronomy community, with researchers at German institutions represented in all 14 SKAO Science Working Groups, and it is home to the Effelsberg radio telescope, an SKA pathfinder. German participation in the SKAO is organised by the Association for Data-intensive Radio Astronomy (VdR), which facilitates engagement and communication for the public, industrial partners and researchers with the SKA project.
“Germany has a great history of achievement in radio astronomy and has been a valued partner in the SKA project for many years. I’m delighted that this has now resulted in SKAO membership, which reflects the hard work of many people across the community,” said Chair of the SKAO Council Dr Catherine Cesarsky. “I’d like to officially greet our newest member of the Observatory: Willkommen, Deutschland!”
Together with OHB Digital Connect GmbH and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), MPIfR built a prototype antenna for the SKA-Mid telescope in South Africa, named SKA-MPI, installed in 2018. The prototype dish saw its first light earlier this year and has been helping the SKAO to prepare commissioning plans for the first SKA-Mid dishes.
MPIfR is also co-funding the extension of South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope, along with SARAO (which operates the telescope) and Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF). The 14 MeerKAT+ dishes currently under construction will initially complement the telescope’s 64 existing dishes, before being integrated into the SKA-Mid telescope in the coming years.
Minister Stark-Watzinger also highlighted how technology transfer means the SKAO’s impact will be felt beyond astronomy.
“The SKAO will deliver data in unprecedented quantity and complexity and thus contribute to the development of new methods of data mining, for example, which will be used far beyond basic physics. Basic research will become a technology driver here. Our research institutions such as the Max Planck Society, universities and the German Center for Astrophysics in Lusatia will also benefit from all of this."
The German Center for Astrophysics (DZA) in Görlitz, which is currently under development, will serve as a hub for SKAO science in Germany, providing access to SKA data for astronomers in the country. In recognition of this, the DZA will host the next international SKAO Science Meeting Advancing Astrophysics II: Preparing for Science with the SKAO in Görlitz from 16-20 June 2025.
"It has been a long and not always easy road that has led us to this important milestone for the entire radio astronomy community in Germany," said Prof. Michael Kramer, Director at the MPIfR in Bonn.
"This significant moment is thus particularly gratifying for everyone involved and we would like to thank the Minister and the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) for their support."
