The road to the Radio Synoptic SKA (RSSKA)

The next generation of radio arrays are being designed under the umbrella of the “Square Kilometer Array” (SKA) project. The leading concept for a “mid‐frequency” (0.3–10 GHz) array is a large wide‐field Radio Synoptic SKA (RSSKA), which is being developed for presentation to the upcoming Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey. The RSSKA is targeted at obtaining HI observations of a billion galaxies to redshift $z>1.5$ over 10000 square degrees, and synoptic mapping of the radio sky for transient detection and monitoring. In this talk I discuss the motivation for and the design challenges facing the RSSKA. Also suggested is a path forward from our current generation of facilities, such as the VLA and Arecibo, towards construction and operation of the RSSKA.