South Africa will invest another R40 billion in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project at Carnarvon in the Northern Cape, over the next decade.
Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Dr. Blade Nzimande says this will have great economic spin-offs for the local and provincial coffers.
Construction for the next phase of the project officially started in the Karoo.
It’s considered to be the biggest ultimate data challenge. The world’s largest radio telescope is being constructed in Carnarvon.
South Africa and Australia share the hosting of the telescope. The front-runner, the Meerkat, has 64 radio telescope dishes and already had numerous successes, bringing the clearest images of the galaxy.
The next phase of the SKA project is the SKA-mid. Once completed, the SKA will initially comprise of 197 dishes and over 130 000 antennas spread across the protected sites.
The SKA will be looking back at the formation of the universe. SKA-mid construction director, Tracy Cheetman elaborates on the revolution the SKA holds.
“So, the exciting part is that we know the big bang was 13.8 billion years ago. We gonna be looking at it, it’s going back 100 million years after the big bang. We are looking at the formation of the first stars and the galaxies. And then the evolution of the universe from the cosmic dawn. And what the cosmic dawn is doing looking at the universe changing from dark to light. So, we really exploring that evolution of the universe, that 13.8 billion years.”
Funding for the project will come from different countries that are members of the observatory.
The project is set up through a government treaty agreement. Member countries like Australia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are also funding the project.
Nzimande says South Africa will invest more.
“For the next ten years, we are going to be investing about R40 billion, which is very good for the local economy as well as the Northern Cape economy. And we are going to create more than 20 000 jobs that are going to be created actually during that period. And largely local jobs, which is also very important. Also, this is also very important for education. It will actually depend on already the relationship that the SKA has with our local schooling communities.”
40-year-old Tyrone Adams is a beneficiary of the project. He is working towards his dream of being a radio frequency technician at Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
“Basically I started here as a student in 2012. I got a bursary for the SKA and I went to Kimberley and came back and I got the opportunity to study in the field of fibre optics. So I did all my training, everything I did here. And in 2013 I didn’t make the team they chose. So I went to the out and I bettered myself. And at the end of 2017 when the Herra project started, I actually applied there and I got the job. Since then I am in charge of the fibre.”
Technology on-site is strictly prohibited. This is to prevent any interference and damage to the satellites. Gerhard Botha is from the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory.
“So if you, for example, use your smartwatch and it’s communicating to your cellphone…that is in a Bluetooth or wi-fi band, it’s sitting on the same frequency band. So it’s like two people communicating with you at the same time. So the telescope doesn’t know where it’s coming from…is it coming from the sky or a terrestrial site. So we want to keep the terrestrial site clean and make sure there is no interference from human devices or vehicles that have got WiFi and bluetooth nowadays. All this equipment interferes with the signals that have been used on the telescope.”
The construction of the SKA-mid is expected to be completed by 2028. The project aims to have a lifespan of 50 years, answering many questions in astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics.
