Remember last month when we told you that Australia was in the running for the world’s largest telescope, the Square Kilometre Array or SKA? Claire Connolly over at News is reporting that the NBN is a huge boost to the chances of us winning that tender next February.
Essentially, the NBN’s fibre network would allow the 25 remote array stations to communicate data quickly and effectively. While NBN Co hasn’t announced any plans for rollout in the areas of the array, a spokesperson told News that they were aware of the SKA and admired CSIRO’s work.
If the tender is successful and the NBN weren’t happening, CSIRO would have to upgrade some current fibre solutions, but there’s no way they could rely on the current copper infrastructure.
Hopefully by this time next year we’ll know that both projects are well underway, and Australia will begin its new path as a technological epicentre for scientific discovery.
[News]