African ministers of science and technology will return home this week with a plan to ready their countries for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and a network of radio telescopes on the continent.<\/p>\n
The giant telescope, which will comprise thousands of antennae in Australia and Africa with the core in South Africa, will be the largest scientific experiment in the world and will attempt to answer some of humanity\u2019s most enigmatic questions, such as: Is there other life in the universe? How do galaxies form? And what is dark matter?<\/p>\n
South Africa will host the core of the world\u2019s largest radio telescope in collaboration with Australia, and eight African partner countries \u2013 Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia \u2013 will also host satellite stations.<\/p>\n
Ministers and representatives of the partner countries met SKA South Africa and Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor in Pretoria on Wednesday and signed a draft memorandum of understanding outlining the \u201creadiness strategy\u201d and \u201cplan of action\u201d for hosting the SKA in their countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been trying to look at how we can make the relationship more formal with a clear indication of the undertaking that each of us [specific countries] agreed to,\u201d Pandor told the Mail & Guardian.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve begun to set out the plan of action for partnerships among the nine of us, indicating how we will resource the initiatives [the SKA is only one part of the agreement]. We want full partnerships \u2013 South Africa is not a donor; [nor is] the [international] SKA [organisation].\u201d<\/p>\n
This strategy focuses on governance of the African SKA consortium, communications and outreach, human capital development, institutional capacity, technology transfer and development, roll-out and compliance, the big data Africa programme and strategic partnerships and funding resources.<\/p>\n
The big data programme will see high-performance computing facilities in all African partner countries. Big data \u2013 the ability to process and analyse huge quantities of data in real time \u2013 is an important component of the SKA, and African partner countries will need home-grown capabilities if they are to benefit from developments in the field.<\/p>\n
Countries have been given different responsibilities in these areas. For example, \u201cSouth Africa will lead in drafting the terms of reference and the legal instruments identified for formalising the governance structures and commitments,\u201d the department of science and technology said on Wednesday. \u201cGhana will lead in drafting the communications and the regional awareness strategies, and the other African partner countries will nominate representatives to work with Ghana.\u201d<\/p>\n
Running alongside the continent\u2019s SKA activities is the African VLBI Network (AVN). VLBI stands for very long baseline interferometry, in which four or more radio telescopes observe a single celestial object simultaneously and in effect act as one big telescope.<\/p>\n
For decades, South Africa\u2019s telescope at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory was the only VLBI telescope in the country plugged into European networks. The plan is to mimic in other African countries what SKA South Africa has achieved at home \u2013 building a sustainable and burgeoning pool of engineers, scientists, technicians and artisans who can work on the different aspects of radio astronomy.<\/p>\n
Converting old telecoms dishes In 2012, the African Renaissance fund agreed to put R120-million towards the SKA. A telecoms dish in Ghana is in the process of being converted and there are discussions under way in other countries to convert their old telecoms dishes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also agreed on the AVN project roll-out and the compliance,\u201d Pandor said. \u201cThe ministers are very excited \u2026 [but] after the next meeting, I don\u2019t want all South Africans reporting, [I] want the other officials [from other countries].\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the SKA organisation approved the phase one design of the giant telescope. Construction will begin in 2018. The African satellite stations will be included in the second phase of the telescope, with construction for SKA2 only beginning in the mid-2020s, SKA South Africa says.<\/p>\n
The SKA is expected to be ready for science in 2024.<\/p>\n
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