MWA radio telescope to detect solar storms

A small pocket of Western Australia’s remote outback is set to become the eye on the sky and could potentially save the world billions of dollars.

The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope, recently unveiled, will provide the world an improved view of the sun and an early warning to prevent damage to communication satellites, electric power grids and GPS navigation systems.

The $51 million low-frequency radio telescope will be able to detect and monitor massive solar storms, such as the one that cut power to six million people in Canada in 1989 during the last peak in solar activity.

Experts have warned that a major solar storm could result in damage to integral power supplies and communication networks of up to US$2 trillion - the equivalent of a global Hurricane Katrina.

The MWA will aim to identify the trajectory of solar storms, quadrupling the warning period currently provided by near-Earth satellites. This is timely as the sun is due to re-enter peak activity in 2013, with an increase in the number and severity of solar storms expected, with the potential to disrupt global communications and ground commercial airlines.

The completion of the MWA has come after eight years of work by an international consortium of 13 institutions across four countries (Australia, USA, India and New Zealand), led by Curtin University.

The Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO), operated by the CSIRO, was chosen by the consortium because it is a suitable location for low-frequency radio astronomy. The site has also been selected as the future home for a major part of the Square Kilometre Array.

“The MWA will keep watch on the sun during the upcoming period of maximum solar activity. It has the potential to deliver very real and immediate benefits to the entire global population. It is a tremendous achievement and testament to the innovative technologies that have been developed to support this instrument,” said director of the MWA and professor of Radio Astronomy at Curtin University Steven Tingay.

“We anticipate a 10-fold improvement in performance when the full capabilities of the MWA are pressed into service in early 2013,” Prof Tingay told a group of eminent scientists and VIPs who had travelled from all over the globe to attend the telescope’s unveiling.

This sentiment has been supported by 2011 Nobel Laureate and member of the Murchison Widefield Array Board, Prof Brian Schmidt, who described the telescope as a highly ambitious project:

“With it we will, for the first time, be able to look at the transformation of the universe from a rather boring environment of hydrogen and helium to the point where the stars, galaxies and black holes create the vibrant universe as we know it,” Prof Schmidt said.

“This telescope is an exciting and necessary part of the process of discovery and I see it as a step towards, if not the tool for, an important scientific breakthrough.”