MeerKat tender issued

A request for proposal and tender for 64 dishes for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) precursor array, MeerKat, has been issued.

Reporting to the Science and Technology Parliamentary Committee on the department's first quarter expenditure for 2012, science and technology director-general Phil Mjwara reminded members that, in May, the SKA Organisation announced SA and its African partner countries won the right to host approximately 70% of the SKA mega-telescope.

There has been an agreement on the design of the tools for the MeerKat and the dishes have been designed. The department expects the designs to be adopted soon.

The tender for the SKA dishes cannot go out as yet, because the technical specifications have not been developed.

The MeerKat demonstrator telescope passed its preliminary design review (PDR) with distinction, said a panel of international experts previously.

Close to 100 young scientists and engineers are working on the MeerKat project. It is a world-class radio telescope designed to do ground-breaking science, according to the SKA SA project office. It will be the largest and most sensitive radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere, until the completion of the SKA in 2024.

The PDR was carried out in Cape Town by a panel consisting of radio astronomers from India, the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Chile and Australia.

The panel was convened to evaluate all aspects of the design of the MeerKat, the system engineering development process, risk potential and satisfaction of user requirements. The panel unanimously concluded that the PDR was successfully passed.

“The PDR report points out some risks, which will need to be addressed through focused initiatives to minimise the risk before deployment of the full system in the Karoo, particularly the need to ensure that mechanical and structural tolerances can be achieved at reasonable cost and the need for continued care to avoid self-generated radio frequency interference,” said SKA SA.

However, the panel concluded there were no unacceptably high risks and that the project has a well-defined risk management structure that is well adhered to throughout the project.

Tenders will be issued for the construction of the infrastructure of the telescope, including roads, power and optical fibre reticulation, buildings and foundations for the dishes.

The department said 142 Expanded Public Works Programme construction jobs have been created in the Northern Cape, as part of the SKA project.

However, Mjwara explained that the jobs are not to be considered sustainable, as they are short-term jobs in construction. Skilled technicians will also be employed and a partnership is in place with the Durban University of Technology to this end.

The DG also said 50 unemployed science graduates have been placed in TT100 companies and will be financially supported. Five new technology-based enterprises will be supported through the Technology Innovation Agency before 31 March.

Addressing the department's International Cooperation and Resources Programme, Mjwara said that R13.13 billion of foreign funds was leveraged by 30 June.

A further R5.13 billion of South African and foreign funds was spent on science and technology-based socio-economic development in Africa. Also, 123 students participated in the international cooperation science, technology and innovation (STI) research projects in countries like Argentina, India, Japan and Angola, and 42 foreign students participated in the South African global knowledge and STI networks.

The National System of Innovation faces the challenge of coordination at governance level, according to Mjwara. There is no set locus of coordination between government and private sector programmes. Another problem is that although programmes are developed, there is sometimes a challenge in getting them adopted by certain departments.

The DST has received the annual report from the National Research Foundation (NRF) on the students who were funded in the previous year. This report showed funding to 3 381 individuals.

With regards to the Socio-Economic Partnership Programme, in the quarter reported on, 424 Masters and PhD students were funded or co-funded in designated niche areas like ICT and Advanced Manufacturing.

The DG added that 15 peer-reviewed scientific papers were published by 30 June; eight patent prototypes, technology demonstrators or technology transfer packages were in the process of being added in the IP portfolio; and 477 small and medium enterprises were given technological support.