Astronomy is in a golden age of discovery of the new, with a growingappreciation from astrophysics that physics has studied so far analmost insignificant fraction of reality. This golden age is enabledby technology, with next generation technologies approaching theGiga-euro/dollar investment level. This forces a strategic view of relativestrengths in the past, and strategies for future developments. Some ofthese may transcend traditional wavelength classifications.


We review recent examples where the synergy between radio and X-ray observations has led to substantial progress in understanding astronomical systems. The sub-arcsecond imaging capabilities of the Chandra X-ray observatory provides a 100-fold improvement for comparing X-ray and radio structures. We specifically discuss examples which provide insight into the outflow of material and energy from pulsars and supernovae, the centers of clusters of galaxies, and the nuclei of quasars.

Progress in the understanding of many astrophysical objects requires the use radio and high energy data. This is particularly true in high energy astrophysics when considering compact objects. The emission processes emitting radio and high energy photons are furthermore deeply related. However, the limitations in the observations, render often the comparison of radio and gamma-ray data difficult.

We present some notes concerning recent achievements in observational and theoretical cosmology, especially CMB cosmology. We emphasize that some cosmological processes could be more complicated than the standard cosmological scenario. In this case we need additional parameters for their description. Taking into account these new “missing” parameters we obtain alternative values for the old standard cosmological parameters to provide the best fit to the observational data. As an example we show that the more complicated models of the kinetics of recombination (with a few new “missing” parameters describing the recombination processes at z ≃ 103) provide better agreement between measured and expected characteristics of the CMB anisotropy.


On behalf of ESA and the Planck Scientific Collaboration, we present anoverview of the European Space Agency's Planck mission, itsscientific objectives and the main elements of its technical design.The current programmatic status of Planck within ESA's Scientific Programme,implementation plans, and near-term milestones arealso outlined.

Progress in design tools and technology development improve the basicinstrument used by radio astronomers, composed by an antenna and areceiver. This paper will review some design methods now available indifferent areas and widely used in order to optimize radio telescopeperformances. Steps toward increased sensitivity are then obtained bymeans of complex systems such as active antenna surfaces or receiverphased arrays.

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array, hereafter ALMA, is a large international telescope project which will be built over the next decade in northern Chile on a site at 5 km elevation. The site provides excellent atmospheric transmission in the millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength ranges. The project consists of sixty-four 12-m antennas which can be placed on 250 different stations. These stations cover baselines up to 14 km. At the shortest planned wavelength, λ = 0.3 mm, and longest baseline, the angular resolution will be 0.005 arcsec. The receivers are superconducting (SIS) mixers, to provide the lowest possible receiver noise contribution. In the basic ALMA project the 4 highest priority receiver bands will be installed first (see Table 2). These will all have SIS mixers for both polarizations, each with a bandwidth of 8 GHz. A unique feature of ALMA is that this instrument will record both interferometric and total power data. Thus the complete flux density will be recovered. In the following, we present the status of the ALMA project as of end 2003 with a few comments about future developments in the project in Section 7.


The Low Frequency Array is a new radio telescope based on phased arrayprinciples that will operate at frequencies from 10–240 MHz. The vastimprovement in sensitivity and resolution over previous instrumentsthat have worked at these frequencies, together with the increasedflexibility that results from the phased array approach(multi-beaming, no moving parts) make LOFAR an extremely versatile andpowerful new instrument. We present some of the scientific drivers andgive an overview of the current design.


The Square Kilometre Array is a global project to develop the nextgeneration radio telescope at metre to centimetre wavelengths. It willhave a collecting area of order one million square metres, asensitivity 100 times higher than the extended VLA, an instantaneousfield of view (FOV) larger than the full moon, and, in some designs,more than one FOV allowing multiple simultaneous use. It will be anextremely powerful survey telescope with the capability to follow upindividual objects with high angular and time resolution. The SKA willreach a point source sensitivity of 25 nano-Jy in 1 hour ofintegration, and a maximum resolution of better than 1 milli-arcsecond at20 GHz with excellent imaging over several orders of magnitude at anygiven frequency. The SKA science reach will be enormous, allowing newdiscoveries in astroparticle physics and cosmology, fundamentalphysics, galactic and extragalactic astronomy, and solar systemscience. Technological innovation, closely paralleling commercial ITdevelopments, is key to the design concepts under investigation and tothe cost goal of USD 1000/m2. The selection of technologies for theSKA is scheduled in early 2008. A number of possible locations for thetelescope are under investigation with a choice scheduled in early2006. Construction of the array will take most of the next decade.


HALCA, the first dedicated satellite for space VLBI, was launchedin February 1997, and VSOP observations have been successfullyundertaken at 1.6 and 5 GHz. The near-future VSOP-2 mission isplanned to have frequency bands of 8, 22, and 43 GHz, with dualpolarization, a 1 Gbps downlink bit-rate, and a phase-referencingcapability. The mission proposal was submitted to ISAS/JAXA inSeptember 2003, with the earliest possible launch, if approved, in2012. There must be other missions farther into the future, and mmand sub-mm space VLBI must be realized as the ultimate highresolution imaging instrument over the electro-magnetic spectrum.ALMA and SKA can also play important roles for space VLBI.


Some attempts to predict a very distant future of radio astronomy arepresented. It is not easy to foresee a list of the first priorityproblems which may appear, but the potential of research facilities ismore predictable. It is suggested that in addition to the “dedicatedfor radio astronomy” facilities, the instrumentation of radioastronomy may be extended greatly by integration with the nextgeneration “standard living” facilities, integrated viaPeople-to-People communications through global networks and byincorporating of the “natural facilities", such as gravitationallenses, maser amplification in the ISM etc. As an example of theextreme cases of the 109 m2 class of the new generation RadioTelescopes, utilization of the personal dipole-size communicationfacilitiy by a SKA-type instrument and an array formed by asteroids'first “Frehnel zones” will be mentioned. The latter radio astronomytool together with optical facilities will be extremely useful inexploration of the z>10 Universe. The reality of all predictionsdepend mostly on the way the Civilization will prefer to develop:“ahead, to HOMO SAPIENCE” or “back, to PRIMATES”.