Atomic Hydrogen Through Cosmic Time: Steps to the Square Kilometre Array

Understanding how primal hydrogen clouds evolve into modern-day galaxies is a main science goal of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the next-generation international radio telescope, which is likely to be sited in Australia. As steps toward the design of SKA, we propose a three-pronged strategy that will enable hydrogen gas to be traced through cosmic time: (1) pushing the limits of current technology to detect faint global signals from the first structures in the infant Universe, (2) novel hardware and software development to mitigate the confusing signals from human radio interference, and (3) international participation in logistical development of SKA.