Site Selection Story, 2002–2006: Shortlist

The SKA telescope site selection process was long and complex. It went through five distinct stages: (1) separate national initiatives in China and Australia to identify potential sites (1994–2002), (2) centrally coordinated activity to identify and characterise these and two other potential sites in Southern Africa and Argentina-Brazil (2000–2005), (3) the short-listing process and decision (2004–2006), (4) further characterisation of the two short-listed sites, and politicisation of the site competition (2007–2011), and (5) the final site selection process and decision (2009–2012). This chapter describes and analyses the first three stages of site selection from the early national initiatives to the creation of a shortlist of two potential hosts, Australia and Southern Africa. Initially the International SKA Steering Committee (ISSC) aimed to select the SKA site in 2006 but after advice from the funding agencies interested in the project, the goal of outright selection changed in mid-2005 to a shortlist of acceptable sites. Chapter 8 continues the story to its culmination in 2012 when the SKA governing body decided to locate the mid-frequency dish array in Southern Africa and the low-frequency array in Australia.