LONDON: Jodrell Bank has been chosen to host the headquarters of the world’s largest radio telescope, which is expected to secure an additional 200 jobs and be worth £1bn in private sector investment.
Members of the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope project have expressed their preference for the site near Goostrey.
The SKA will be a collection of telescopes spread over a long distance designed to improve scientific understanding of the universe and the laws of fundamental physics, monitor the sky in unprecedented detail and map it hundreds of times faster than any current facility.
It is estimated to be worth £1bn in private sector investment and will help to secure an additional 200 high-value jobs on the site.
The project is being led by the SKA Organisation from Jodrell Bank Observatory, home to the 76-metre-tall Lovell Telescope.
Professor Stephen Watts, head of the School of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Manchester, said: “This is great news for Jodrell Bank. Not only will it mean cutting-edge science will continue to be carried out at the site for the foreseeable future but it will also help inspire the thousands of children who visit here every year from schools across the country.
“It is a great honour to be chosen as the headquarters of the largest telescope ever built.”
