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By  Sebastian Neuweiler Kirsten Fredericksen 21 June 2024 5 min read

Key points

  • Angela Teale is the Head of Engineering Operations for the SKA-Low telescope.
  • Angela’s team is currently building the first thousand antennas that will make up the SKA-Low telescope.
  • We are partnering with the SKA Observatory (SKAO) in Australia to build and operate the SKA-Low telescope.

As a child, when Angela Teale was asked what she wanted to do with her life, her answer was easy.

She wanted to be a nurse just like her grandmother. But life had other plans. When Angela caught her first sight of blood, she realised nursing wasn’t for her. She turned her attention to another fascination: technology.

“The way I got involved in engineering was really by happenstance. Both of my parents worked in the United States Air Force,” Angela said.

“So, I followed in their footsteps and joined the US Air Force as a space systems operator.“

Angela spends a lot of time out on Wajarri Country now that construction of the 131,072 antennas of the SKA-Low telescope is underway. Here she's taking a selfie with her technological friend, the robot that roams SKA-Low station mesh to tag where antennas should be placed by the team. Credit: SKAO.

A career lifts off

Over an eight-year air-force career she learned all about orbital mechanics and satellite systems. Along the way, she discovered her favourite subjects, astrodynamics and engineering.

After 20 years in the space industry, Angela found herself working as Deputy Director of Astrodynamics and Space Systems Research for Slingshot Aerospace

"At Slingshot I helped design the technical requirements for the platform that provides the majority of Earth's space operators everything they need in one place to avoid a collision in space," Angela said. 

“Engineering, at the end of the day, is about solving problems, finding opportunities to make things better and making things more efficient.”

Angela is proud her young daughter is growing up seeing women like her mum working in leadership positions. Credit: SKAO.

Stellar move: enter SKA-Low

Today, Angela is based in Geraldton. What prompted Angela to move halfway across the world from the United States to this coastal city? That’s simple: love.

Angela and her now-husband Peter met through their shared high-adrenaline hobbies. It wasn’t long before he invited her to Australia. Angela fell in love with Peter, his hometown of Geraldton and its community. But there was a hitch.

“I was worried I would have to give up on my dream of working on space-related projects if I moved to regional Western Australia,” Angela said.

Enter the international SKA Observatory's (SKAO) Australian-based telescope, SKA-Low.

Exploring the Universe with the SKA-Low telescope

Some five hours' drive west of Geraldton, you'll find the site where the SKA-Low telescope is under construction. 

“When I found out that there was an opportunity to lead an engineering team on a massive international project to increase our understanding of the Universe here in Geraldton, the town that my family lives in, where I have community involvement, I had to go for it.”

Angela's work is now part of the team working in our collaboration with the international SKA Observatory in Australia. We're partnering with the SKAO to build and operate the SKA-Low telescope on Wajarri Yamaji Country at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, our Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. This is one of two telescopes SKAO is building. The other is the SKA-Mid telescope in South Africa.

The SKA telescopes will be the world's largest and most capable telescopes, observing the birth of the first stars and galaxies revolutionising our understanding of the Universe. 

As the Head of Engineering Operations, Angela leads the teams responsible for everything that goes into building the SKA-Low telescope's components. They are building, and will eventually maintain, the antennas and other components that make up the SKA-Low telescope.

Angela prepares the first antenna for the SKA-Low telescope for installation in March 2024. Credit: SKAO.

Angela loves the work.

"Within the SKA-Low team and working in engineering you really get the chance to choose your own adventure. If you want to focus on strategy or solving highly technical problems, you can do that. If you want to be involved in more people centric engineering solutions, you can do that too,” she said.

“There are so many opportunities to really find what you like and develop in that area.”

Bridging science and culture with Traditional Owners

One of the aspects that excites Angela the most about the project is the partnership with the local community. In particular, she works closely with the Wajarri Yamaji, Traditional Owners and native title holders of the observatory site.

Recently several Wajarri Field Technicians joined Angela’s team building the first antennas of the SKA-Low telescope.

On-site SKA-Low construction began in late 2022 and work initially focused on infrastructure preparation. In March 2024 Angela’s team built and installed the very first SKA-Low telescope antenna.

Now her team are rapidly installing more components every week.

“I look forward to a year from now when our Field Technicians will be passing their knowledge on to our growing team and we’ll have thousands of antennas completed.”

[Upbeat music plays and the words ‘One of Earth’s biggest science facilities is one step closer to unveiling an unparalleled view of the Universe’ appears on screen over drone footage scanning over the red earth and green scrub of Wajarri Country in Western Australia]

[The text on screen fades and the drone footage now shows construction vehicles with a small cleared parcel of land with six silver-grey circles of metal mesh surrounded by undisturbed land]

Professor Philip Diamond: What we're seeing is the construction of the first antennas for the SKA Observatory low-frequency telescope here in Western Australia.

[Footage under Professor Philip Diamond’s narration switches between a view of three workers in high vis and safety boots wheeling a 2m tall silver-grey metal tree-shaped antenna out onto silver grey mesh, a drone view from above of the same workers installing the antenna from close up and then from further in the air]

[A wide drone view showing a circle of people in yellow high vis clothing surrounding the first antenna of the SKA-Low telescope while it is installed on a larger circle of silver-grey mesh]

Professor Philip Diamond: SKA-Low here in Australia, SKA-Mid in South Africa, will revolutionise our understanding of the universe

[Animation on screen introduces Professor Philip Diamond, SKA Observatory (SKAO) Director-General as the speaker over vision of Philip speaking to camera wearing yellow high-vis shirt and grey broad-brim hat both labelled with the SKAO logo]

Professor Philip Diamond: and our place in it.

[Drone footage from high above showing a small cleared parcel of land with six silver-grey circles of metal mesh surrounded by undisturbed land]

[Professor Philip Diamond speaking to camera]

Professor Philip Diamond: Astronomers have been dreaming of this place for decades, and it's fantastic we're now here.

[Footage from the ground showing some silver-grey mesh on red Earth with focus on the wide blue sky and small white fluffy clouds moving rapidly overhead]

[White text on black appears ‘The installation of the SKA-Low antennas follows more than 12 months of infrastructure preparation work at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Country’]

[Drone footage of construction vehicles moving earth and travelling across the red dirt of Wajarri Country with large regions of green scrub surrounding construction activity]

[Three sets of hands are shown close up working with electric screwdrivers to piece together a silver metal SKA-Low antenna]

[Images cycle through close up antenna components, including a plate engraved with the SKAO logo and the antenna number 0000412]

[Image transitions to low-flying drone footage over many large reels of optical fibre, higher view of the same construction equipment storage area and more close up shots of hands constructing the tree-shaped SKA-Low antennas]

[Angela Teale, SKA-Low Head of Engineering Operations speaking to camera wearing yellow high-vis clothing with the SKAO and CSIRO logos and broad-brim hat transitioning to a shot of Angela and a large group of people all in high vis shirts smiling together as Angela laughs in the centre]

Angela Teale: It takes a lot of work to get to this point.

[White text on black appears ‘The installation of the antennas also kick-starts the all-important work for the SKA-Low field technicians’]

[Angela Teale speaking to camera with animation on screen introducing her as SKA-Low Head of Engineering Operations, CSIRO and SKAO]

Angela Teale: It's just so exciting to have our field techs actually on site,

[Vision of the field technicians wearing yellow high vis shirts with the SKAO and CSIRO logos putting together antennas and a close up of boots walking across steel mesh]

Angela Teale: working, putting antennas together,

[Angela Teale speaking to camera transitioning to vision of the white domed antenna installation tent under a bright blue sky with fast-moving fluffy white clouds]

Angela Teale: and getting ready to actually install them to become part of the telescope.

[Angela Teale speaking to camera]

Angela Teale: I am over the moon that the Wajarri make up over 70% of the team.

[Vision of the sun in a bright blue sky transitions back to Angela Teale speaking to camera]

Angela Teale: One of the field tech's grandfathers told me that once the Wajarri technicians get back on the land, the land will begin to bloom, and I just thought that was one of the most beautiful things.

[Drone footage from high above showing a small cleared parcel of land with six silver-grey circles of metal mesh surrounded by undisturbed land panning up to the horizon]

[Lockie Ronan speaking to camera with animation introducing him as Lockie Ronan, SKA-Low Field Technician, CSIRO and SKAO]

Lockie Ronan: My ancestors are from here, and being out here is closer than I've ever been, with my heritage.

[Footage of Lockie Ronan and other field technicians wearing yellow high vis shirts with the SKAO and CSIRO logos and their names leaning against a wall taking a break]

[Footage of Lockie Ronan installing an SKA-Low tree-shaped antenna]

Lockie Ronan: Yeah, I love it, it's very exciting

[Lockie Ronan speaking to camera]

Lockie Ronan: and I'm very interested to see where this will head in the future.

[Angela Teale speaking to camera]

Angela Teale: It's just a glimpse of what

[A few seconds of vision of the field technicians close up constructing antennas transitions back to Angela Teale speaking to camera]

Angela Teale: we'll see a year from now when they're the experts on this telescope.

[Sped up timelapse footage of workers in yellow high vis shirts and sturdy safety boots walking the steel mesh preparing for antenna installation]

[Emily Goddard speaking to camera wearing a yellow high vis shirt with the SKAO and CSIRO logos as well as a broad brim hat]

Emily Goddard: I have learnt a lot.

[Close up vision of hands working with electric screwdrivers to piece together a silver metal SKA-Low antenna]

Emily Goddard: Everyone's happy to depart their knowledge,

[Emily Goddard speaking to camera with animation introducing her as Emily Goddard, SKA-Low Field Technician, CSIRO and SKAO]

Emily Goddard: everyone wants to tell you about their field of expertise, so, I may be a field tech, but I've learnt about every aspect of the antenna and where it's happening and going.

[Footage panning across undisturbed red earth and green low scrub-like bushes]

Emily Goddard: We're in a beautiful part of the country,

[Emily Goddard speaking to camera]

Emily Goddard: you don't get many places like this anymore, so to be able to work somewhere remote that is still so quintessentially Australian is incredible,

[Vision pans across a large group of people in yellow high vis shirts with the SKAO and CSIRO logos smiling broadly with wide brim hats, behind a single tree-shaped SKA-Low antenna]

Emily Goddard: I'm so lucky.

[Animation of a bright white starburst with pink and navy gradient surrounds turns into the SKAO logo and the text ‘We recognise and acknowledge the Indigenous peoples and cultures that have traditionally lived on the lands on which our facilities are located. In Australia, we acknowledge the Wajarri Yamaji as the Traditional Owners and native title holders of Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, the site where the SKA-Low telescope is being built.’]

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Diversity and leadership in engineering

Angela hopes the project, which has a 50-year timeline, and the work being done by her and her team can inspire the next generation.

“I think about all the different and diverse people who will get an opportunity over the lifetime of this project and it really, really excites me,” she said.

“As a woman in an engineering leadership role, I hope it shows people that it doesn’t matter who you are, or what stereotypes are there in the background, engineering and solving problems is a people thing.

“I have a young daughter and it makes me proud knowing that she’s growing up seeing women and diverse people in leadership positions.”

We acknowledge the Wajarri Yamaji as Traditional Owners and native title holders of Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory site.

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