Germany

The German SKA activities are organised and coordinated by the Verein für datenintensive Radioastronomie e.V. (VdR). The group links the German astronomical community with the SKA community in general and with industrial and political partners who are interested in the SKA. Its membership includes:

• Prof. Dr. Hermann Heßling  (HTW Berlin, VdR chair)
• Prof. Dr. Karl Mannheim (University of Würzburg, VdR vice chair)
• Alexander Kappes (Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn, VdR head of office)

German scientists represent the fourth largest contributors to the SKA science case.

During the pre-construction phase, Germany was involved in 6 of the 11 design consortia, including the Central Signal Processor, Dish, Low Frequency Aperture Array, Science Data Processor, Telescope Manager and Wideband Single Pixel Feed consortia.