In a unanimous decision, the Board of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Organisation approved the application for membership submitted by the Spanish Government. This makes Spain the eleventh Member of the SKA Organisation.

Pedro Duque, the newly appointed Minister of Science, Innovation & Universities stated: “This is a strategic investment for our country. The SKA Observatory* will be one of the flagship international research infrastructures in Europe in the coming years.”

The Spanish participation in the SKA has been led by the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

Dr Lourdes-Verdes Montenegro, IAA-CSIC researcher, said: “This is fantastic news. We’ve had a strong involvement from Spanish scientists and engineers in the SKA for many years. SKA will transform our understanding of the Universe and Spain will be part of it.”