SCIENTISTS are concerned that a decision to split the world's most sensitive and expensive radio telescope could negatively affect the long-term future of the multibillion-dollar project.

The location of the yet-to-be-built Square Kilometre Array was announced in Amsterdam by the global organisation overseeing the project, one of the largest international collaborations in science.

The Square Kilometre Array site in Western Australia. Credit:Justin McManus

The SKA Organisation said Australia would be the base for the telescope's low-frequency observations, which will image the birth of the first stars in the universe using instruments built in the remote Murchison Shire of Western Australia, 600 kilometres north-east of Perth.

It is big picture work, which will test new technology designed to establish what is driving the expansion of the universe.