A huge new radio telescope project, the Square Kilometer Array, is currently being pursued. If funding is secured, which comes to about $1.5 billion, phase one of the project could be completed by 2018 with the third and final phase being finished in 2024. The SKA will consist of thousands of small radio telescopes networked together to create, in effect, one gigantic instrument. The component telescopes will be spread over southern Africa, though mostly in the nation of South Africa, and in Australia. The Africa-Australia connection would give the SKA a huge baseline, which would translate into incredible resolving power.
The SKA is designed to probe such things as the formation of planets, the behavior of black holes, and the early universe. It would also be an extraordinary tool for SETI research.
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