Ministor Pandor visits SKA site
14 April 2010
News
The Minister of Science and Technology, Mrs Naledi Pandor, together with the Premier of the Northern Cape, Ms Hazel Jenkins, led a high-level ministerial visit to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) site in Carnavon in the Northern Cape, at the end of March.
This is aimed at celebrating a major milestone in Africa’s international bid to host the SKA, which is deemed to be the world’s most powerful radio telescope.
A core component of the country’s bid initiative is the design and construction of an operational demonstrator telescope, the MeerKAT. To achieve this objective, the construction of the seven-dish Karoo Array Telescope (KAT-7) serves as the Meerkat precursor array. The minister’s visit to the region is in celebration of the successful construction of the seventh and final dish of the KAT-7, which was completed ahead of schedule in early 2010. This is a significant milestone, which positions Africa well ahead of Australia, the only other remaining contender in the bid to host the SKA.
The achievement also clearly demonstrates Africa’s existing capabilities in science and technology and positions the continent more favourably to host the telescope as a collective of African partner countries (Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Mauritius, Madagascar, Kenya, Ghana and Zambia). The KAT-7 will serve as both an engineering test-bed and as an operational radio telescope.
The MeerKAT will be one of the largest scientific research facilities in the world and will consolidate Africa as a major global hub for astronomy in the world. It will hopefully attract the best scientists and engineers to work in Africa and will provide opportunities for scientists and engineers from across the continent to engage with transformational science and cutting-edge instrumentation, as well as to collaborate in joint projects with the most renowned universities and research institutions in the world.
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