The theme for Parliament’s opening is inspired by South Africa’s bid to become the site for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope, SpeakerMax Sisulusaid on Tuesday.”The knowledge economy and development opportunities” is the slogan for this year’s opening.
Sisulu told a media briefing at Parliament there was “one reason only” for choosing such a theme – that South Africa, allied with eight other African countries, had bid to become the site for the SKA.
A decision on the location of the SKA core site – either in Australia or South Africa – is expected to be made by the international consortium behind the €1.5bn project in April.
Sisulu said that if the proposed Karoo site in the Northern Cape was chosen for the SKA, this would have a huge and positive impact on technology, mathematics, and science in South Africa.
Astronomers say the giant instrument, a widespread array of about 3 000 separate satellite dishes, will give them valuable insights into the formation of the universe, the nature of gravity, and possibly even life beyond our solar system.
If chosen for the SKA, this would have a huge and positive impact on technology, mathematics, and science in South Africa
South Africa also plans to start construction this year on a 64-antenna radio telescope called MeerKAT that would be one of the five most accurate in the world. Observation slots at the MeerKAT are already fully booked for its first five years. A prototype, the KAT-7, is up and running in the Karoo, an arid expanse of sparsely inhabited land stretched across the country’s western side.The government has declared the site, a silent, rocky landscape a “Radio Astronomy Reserve”. The government has already invested R635 million in seven years to build MeerKAT and plans to spend another R500 million a year to 2016.South Africa’s SKA bid would also put the core of antennas in the Karoo. Other antennas would be scattered around the continent in Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. Design and pre-construction on the SKA are scheduled to begin in 2013. The project is expected to be finished around 2024.
South Africa’s SKA project manager, Dr. Bernie Fanaroff lists sound scientific and technical reasons for allocating the site to Africa:The protected Karoo Radio Astronomy Reserve in the Northern Cape province of South Africa has been proven to be radio quiet across the SKA frequency range by scientific experiments being conducted at the site: The PAPER telescope, deployed and operated at the Karoo site in collaboration with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the Universities of California and Pennsylvania, is producing publication-quality data. The successful operation of PAPER attests to the pristine low-frequency radio environment at the Karoo site. The commissioning science observations currently being conducted on KAT-7 confirm the excellent mid-frequency radio environment.The pristine nature of the Karoo site will be preserved into the future by the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act, passed by Parliament in 2008. This wide-ranging legislation gives the Minister for Science and Technology powers to declare protected areas for astronomy and to prohibit or limit existing or future activities on or near the site that could interfere with the SKA. The area to be protected is the largest in the world (373,000 km²), with the Northern Cape Province already having been declared an Astronomy Advantage Area.The physical characteristics of our site, including climate, hydrology, topography and geophysics, are very well suited to radio astronomy. The core and intermediate regions of the site are at an altitude of over 1000m and are protected from coastal cloud by intervening mountains, ensuring a dry and transparent atmosphere. The climate is benign with no extreme weather events.There are no commercially viable mineral deposits within 180 km of the area allocated for the SKA core.A broadband optical fibre data link with sufficient capacity for MeerKAT and SKA Phase 1 is in place from the Karoo site to the MeerKAT control room in Cape Town. High capacity public and private data networks will provide cost-effective and reliable data connectivity solutions for the SKA.The national electricity grid provides a convenient and cost-effective power source. The huge solar parks planned for the Northern Cape province will provide substantial opportunities for renewable power sources for the SKA and MeerKAT.Africa provides the opportunity for very long SKA baselines spanning the continent, and its geographical position allows for inter-continental baselines to existing and new telescopes in Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australia.SKA staff will enjoy a safe, secure and affordable living and working environment. Carnarvon is a very quiet, small rural town near the core site. Cape Town, where most of the staff will live, has been voted as the world’s top holiday destination and one of the world’s most affordable cities. A recent survey by HSBC rated South Africa as the country where expatriates most easily fit in and adapt and enjoy a great quality of life.South Africa has been a leader in astronomy for more than two hundred years. The commitment of the Government after 1994 to make southern Africa a world hub for astronomy has led to the rapid development of a large and vibrant international astronomy community in South Africa. There are nearly a hundred young, capable and enthusiastic scientists and engineers in the SKA South Africa Project Office, and more than 350 grants have been made to students and post docs to work in South African universities. Five dedicated Research Chairs have been created. The SKA SA Project Office team, with collaborators in universities, industries, both local and from and around the world, have delivered the KAT-7 array (the precursor to the MeerKAT) on time and have impressed the international SKA community with their excellence and commitment. KAT-7 is performing to specification, and the commissioning observations are delivering high-fidelity images that are will lead to publishable science.South African industry is world-class and delivers reliably and efficiently in South Africa, Africa and all over the world. South Africa has delivered many large and complex projects – the world’s deepest mines; Sasol; huge power stations and a very extensive national grid; a world-leading highway system and many others. South Africa delivered an outstanding football World Cup in 2010, with new and upgraded world-class stadiums, transport systems and accommodation. A key issue will of course be cost – this is bound to be a very important consideration at a time when research funding is under pressure, and on-time and cost-effective delivery of huge research instruments like the SKA is crucial. Lower construction and operation costs equate to a larger SKA and more science. The costs of construction, maintenance and operation in South Africa and its partner countries in Africa are relatively much lower, and the existence of “SKA-ready” infrastructure will further lower costs.So we have in our favour the technical and scientific merits of the African site, low cost, and the enthusiasm and competence of the science and engineering community, business, government and the public. The 54 Heads of State of the African Union voted unanimous support for the SKA site bid in 2010, and this high-level commitment has been reiterated and taken further by the recent AU summit in Addis Ababa. All of our partners in Africa have provided letters committing them to full cooperation in the construction and operation of the SKA, to the exacting standards required. Africa is more and more being spoken of as the next great business destination – not just for resource extraction. The African economic growth story is just beginning.
Check out our Storify page on SKA – connecting you to the world
Page produced by Tanja Bencun.
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