On Post-SKA Radio Astronomy

Abstract

It is suggested that the development of the SKA will drastically change the face of radioastronomy in the 21st Century. A FAST-style SKA would admit observations of low contrast features,and would be the best design for studying the ‘dark ages’ of the Universe (x >> 1) where sub-arcmintotal power instruments can usefully be employed. To date there have been no proposals for post-SKA,billion square-metra instruments; we speculate that mobile communication systems can beused. In the very distant future, SKA multi-beam systems could be used to collect signals reflectedby Solar system bodies such as the asteroid belt.