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Sweden joins the SKAO as South Korea and Japan move closer
BY ANNE DANIELS (SKAO)
Sweden has completed its SKAO membership journey, while new agreements with national institutes are paving the way for greater participation in South Korea and Japan.
Sweden officially joined the Observatory on 8 August 2025 following the signing of the SKAO Convention in January and its ratification in July. The country has been involved in the project for many years and Swedish companies are delivering key components to the SKA-Mid telescope, including the Band 1 feed and digitisers for Band 1 and 2.
“This year has been very exciting for the SKAO with Sweden now as an official member,” said SKAO Head of International Relations Thijs Geurts.
“In the meantime, we have also been working with South Korea and Japan, and we have now signed agreements with national organisations in both countries to create new opportunities, which will hopefully eventually lead the way to their membership.”
The agreements with the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) and the Korea Astronomy and Space science Institute (KASI) were signed in May, solidifying South Korea’s involvement in the SKA project.
KASA will be representing South Korea as an observer in the SKAO Council and its sub-committees for the next three years, and Korean scientists and institutes are able to participate in SKA activities.
The memorandum of understanding with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), signed in June, helps create opportunities for Japanese researchers to support the SKA project during assembly, integration and verification (AIV) activities. The AIV teams take over once SKA-Low antenna stations and SKA-Mid dishes are constructed to verify that the systems meet the specified requirements before handing them over to the science commissioning teams.
