South Africa's bid to host the ultimate radio telescope - the Square Kilometre Array - was influenced by Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO).
This is according to National Research Foundation (NRF) president and CEO, Dr Albert van Jaarsveld, speaking at the 50thanniversary of the Hartebeesthoek 26m Radio Antenna this morning.
“It is the presence of this radio telescope - a relic of the early space age and the local community of radio astronomers - that led to astronomy development in the country,” he said.
The HartRAO also helped the development of the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT), he pointed out. “The first experimental prototype for KAT was built, not in the Karoo, but at HartRAO, alongside the venerable 26m telescope in 2007.”
According to the NRF, the 26m diameter radio antenna at Hartebeesthoek was built in 1961 by the US space agency, NASA, to help meet the need for large antennas for communicating with spacecraft on 'Deep Space' missions - those going beyond Earth orbit to the moon and other planets.
It reveals that after decommissioning by NASA, the station was handed over to the CSIR, which had operated it on NASA's behalf.
The antenna tracked the Pioneer spacecraft exploring interplanetary space in the solar system, and participated in the Mariner missions to Venus and Mars, including receiving the first close-up images of Mars, taken by Mariner IV on 15 July 1965, the NRF chronicles.
The research foundation adds that the Hartebeesthoek 26m Radio Antenna was formally known as the Johannesburg Tracking Station, or Deep Space Instrumentation Facility 51 (DSIF 51).
The DISF 51 was declared operational on 1 July 1961, in time for the Ranger 1 mission to photograph the moon, it notes.
This was the first of many missions to the moon designed to prepare for the Apollo-manned moon landings, which included the Lunar Orbiters to map the moon to find potential landing sites and the surveyors that soft landed on the moon to test ability of the Apollo Lunar Modules to land safely, it explains.
In his speech to mark the occasion, deputy minister of science and technology, Derek Hanekom, paid tribute to HartRAO, saying the facility has played a critical role in helping to expand the frontiers of scientific knowledge.
“In our view, as the Department of Science and Technology, the various partnerships HartRAO has forged with various institutions over the years have enabled our country to benefit from a wider pool of knowledge in the areas of radio astronomy and space geodesy.
“But more fundamentally, they have greatly assisted our efforts to improve the quality of our research facilities and their intellectual output,” he said.
“HartRAO has also played a crucial role in the training and development of students, particularly students from previously disadvantaged areas, providing access to science, engineering and technology to people who have historically remained sidelined.”
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