The SKA, which stands for Square Kilometre Array, is the radio telescope that might help us discover extraterrestrial intelligence once and for all.

The collecting area of 1 square kilometre will be more than 14 times higher than the biggest radio telescope right now on Earth, the FAST telescope.

Australia and South Africa were the countries chosen to build the Square Kilometre Array.

The construction will start in 2021 and the first light is expected to take place in 2027.

Actually, the construction has already started with for example the completion of the MeerKAT radio telescope.

The SKA will initially include 2 arrays: the low-frequency array, which are a set of dipole antennas that will cover the range from 50 to 350 MHz, and the mid-frequency array, which are a group of dish antennas that will cover from 350 Mhz to 15 Ghz.

Covering several frequencies is crucial if we want to increase the chances of detecting extraterrestrial radio signals.

According to the former Interim Director General of the SKA project, Michiel van Haarlam, it will be possible to detect the radar of an extraterrestrial airport 60 light years away, once the initial stage of the project is completed.

In this line, a recent study also points out that the SKA could detect extraterrestrial airports 200 light years away.

This implies that it will possible to pick up alien radio signals even if they are not intentionally broadcasting.