TONY JONES, PRESENTER: It will be the world's most powerful telescope and it could be built in Australia. Tonight officials will learn whether Australia will win key support for an independent scientific panel to host the Square Kilometre Array.

The telescope is touted as one of the biggest science projects this century. And as Amy Bainbridge reports, Australia is facing some stiff competition.

AMY BAINBRIDGE, REPORTER: In the remote inland of Western Australia scientists want to create an inland sea of satellite dishes. The Square Kilometre Array would cover 3,000 kilometres. Thousands of antennas linked electronically would allow scientists to see 10 times further into the universe than ever before using a radio telescope.

BRIAN BOYLE, PROJECT LEADER, CSIRO: We'll be looking at objects 13 billion light years away, or 13 billion years old. We'll be looking at some of the first objects in the universe forming.

We'll be able to track the whole history of cosmic evolution. We'll be able to answer questions like what is the nature of dark matter and dark energy?

CHRIS EVANS, SCIENCE & RESEARCH MINISTER: I mean, this will create all sorts of interesting developments in computing and engineering and obviously it may have other spinoffs that we don't even know about yet.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: The vast area of the Murchison Shire in WA is sparsely populated. Already it's home to the Pathfinder telescope. Scientists say it's one of the world's quietest places, exactly what's needed for the SKA project.

BRIAN BOYLE: The great enemy of radio astronomy is people, because people make radio noise. They make radio interference, whether it's through cars or mobile phones or TVs, they generate all this radio frequency interference that can drown out the very feeble signals from the cosmos.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: And to make all this work Australia will need to build a computer 100 times faster than any existing computer.

BRIAN BOYLE: All the signals from all those telescopes have to be brought back and the data communications is equivalent to 10 times the global internet traffic today.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: Senator Chris Evans will head a delegation to China and Italy leaving this Saturday to promote Australia's bid.

Australia is up against the South Africans, who say the telescope should be built in their Karoo Desert. They say it will create jobs and boost development in their region. And along with the Australians, they'll have their chance to make their final case over the next month.

CHRIS EVANS: To be brutally frank, there's a view among many in Europe that they ought to be doing more to assist development in Africa, and that will obviously be a consideration. I suppose our answer to that is you want to make sure that you've got the best possible outcome to get the best possible scientific results from the project.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: And it isn't cheap. Australia will be expected to pay a sizeable share of the $2 billion project split amongst 67 organisations in 20 countries. Perhaps what will make the most sense to those worried about how their taxes are being spent is this: the chance of detecting life in another galaxy.

BRIAN BOYLE: So we could in principle detect radiation from advanced civilisations, and wouldn't that be an earth-shattering discovery?

AMY BAINBRIDGE: The telescope is due to be operational by 2024.

Amy Bainbridge, Lateline.