Italy and UK compete to host telescope HQ

The UK might lose the job of hosting the headquarters of the Square Kilometre Array to Italy, after an expert panel decided that the Italian site was better, Nature has reported.

The UK had strong expectations of hosting SKA’s permanent hub, since the temporary headquarters are based at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire. But Italy has proposed a medieval castle in Padua’s city centre to become the permanent headquarters of the Square Kilometre Array’s telescope.

According to Nature, the SKA’s board of directors was expected to pick the Italian site in a meeting last week, but the UK managed to postpone the decision by convincing the board that further criteria should be discussed.