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.“
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.”
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 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.”
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.