The decision to divide the Square Kilometre (SKA) telescope project between Southern Africa and Australia is not a political one, said science and technology minister Naledi Pandor.
Speaking at a briefing on the host announcement on Friday, the minister said, despite the international SKA organisation saying the political and working environment were taken into account as one of the factors considered when making the site selection, she does not believe it was a political compromise.
“This is a maximising of the value. I'm glad SA has been acknowledged as having the best site.”
The SKA Site Advisory Committee (SSAC) had recommended the African bid as the preferred one, but Australia complained and subsequently a task team was formed to look at maximising the value from both sites, according to Pandor.
“The question in my head is if the other site had been identified as the preferred one, would Africa have been listened to?”
SA was competing for the rights to build the world's largest radio telescope, against a joint Australia-New Zealand bid.
African era
“We may feel slightly disappointed that we didn't get the whole thing, but I think we must emphasise that we got the majority of it. This really does signal a new era in Africa. We must realise how big this is,” said Justin Jonas of the SKA SA project office.
He added that the split will increase costs, but in no way compromises the science that's going to be done with the SKA.
In fact, there may be advantages to using both sites. For example, the power consumption will now be in two places instead of one.
There are two different frequencies for the SKA, mid and low, and these need different types of antennae and that's why the project can be split without compromising the science.
Final costs
Scientist at the SKA SA office, Adrian Tiplady, says the SA initiative has been working closely with the Independent Communications Authority of SA and operators to come up with ways to provide access to telecommunications to people in areas surrounding the SKA site, while still ensuring no interference for the telescope. “These developments have gone very well so far.”
The ICT work, infrastructure and further costs that will be needed for the project will be determined through the design phase.
Pandor said initially it was roughly estimated that the SKA will cost EUR2.5 billion to build the SKA and EUR100 million annually for maintenance.
Stunning science
CEO of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI), Neren Rau, says the SKA will significantly support the expansion of SA's knowledge economy in general and high-technology industry specifically. The skills transfer will assist in addressing the skills challenge in SA.
“[The] announcement illustrates the potential that SA has to play a leading role in science and technology on the global stage. SACCI expects that the process will unfold for the benefit of scientific research over time and that it will translate into advances in related research fields and technological innovation locally.”
Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow minister of science and technology, Junita Kloppers-Lourens, says the official opposition is disheartened, but not dismayed, at the news that the SKA bid has to be shared with Australia.
“We yearned to win the SKA bid to exemplify the African dream outright.” However, she adds that a draw is no loss and the SSAC did identify Southern Africa as the preferred site.
“The latent socio-economic benefit of the SKA project cannot be overstated. Aside from the share of the R23 billion capital investment, the attraction of skills and the creation of subsidiary industries is the kind of boost of confidence that is both necessary and warranted. The DA welcomes this unequivocally.”
The shadow minister also says the infrastructure benefits of power, roads and communication cannot be overstated. “Telecommunication will be especially enhanced through the laying of a new fibre-optic cable.
“The evidence shows that we have what it takes to warrant the investment. We have stunned the world with our scientific capacity. On every criterion, we have more than met the requirements.”
President Jacob Zuma and the ANC also congratulated Pandor on the achievement.
Compromise accepted
The independent SSAC carried out an objective technical and scientific assessment of the sites in SA and Australia, and identified - by consensus - Africa as the preferred site, said Pandor.
“However, in order to be inclusive, the SKA Organisation has agreed to consider constructing one of the three SKA receiver components in Australia. Two will be constructed in Africa.”
She added that the decision to split the project is unexpected given the search for a single site.
“We had hoped the unambiguous recommendation of the SSAC would be accepted as the most sound scientific outcome. We accept the compromise in the interest of science and as acknowledgement of the sterling work done by our scientists and the excellent SKA project team.
“I'm ecstatic. We've done it. I'm thrilled. Of course you want everything, but getting three-quarters is good. I'm happy for SA and I'm happy for our scientists. We've won. I don't like disappointment when Africa wins. We should celebrate really. An iconic project is coming to the African continent.”
SA has eight partner countries for the project - Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia.
The SKA is being designed to answer fundamental questions in physics, astronomy and cosmology in order to understand the origin and workings of the universe better, and to reveal new and unexpected phenomena.
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