Discussions have begun in a number of countries concerning the logical next step in the field, following construction of these millimeter telescopes and completion of the upgrades now being carried out or being planned at many of the current generation of radio facilities. A project has emerged to provide an order of magnitude increase in sensitivity over existing instruments in the centimeter to meter wavelength range. The facility, going by various names in the various countries, is most commonly referred to as the Square Kilometer radio telescope, as it would obtain increased sensitivity by providing a million square meters of collecting area. The effort is logically international in scope, both for reasons of cost and of world-wide distribution of interest, but no existing international organisation could be identified that could naturally adopt the project. Detailed actions in these regards will be considered in upcoming WG meetings.
Policy regarding access to international facilities is currently a dilemma.
The WG recognised the dilemma as relevant to the future of astronomy, but decided to determine what the situation is in other fields before proceeding. Such an overview is in the process of being prepared by the Megascience Forum Working Group on Obstacles to International Co-operation. If you do not already have an Acrobat reader, you may download one for free here .