Germany-based Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy will invest EUR11 million (R151 million) to build and install radio receivers on the MeerKat radio telescope project - the predecessor to the Square Kilometre Array.
The investment is part of a new partnership with the Department of Science and Technology, and the institute aims to build receivers that will operate in the S-band of radio frequencies. According to the institute, the equipment will be used primarily for research on pulsars - the rapid-spinning neutron stars which emit regular radio pulses and can be used as highly accurate clocks to test extreme physics.
In a statement issued by Square Kilometre Array SA (SKA SA), Martin Stratmann, president of the Max Planck Society, said MeerKat is important for the prospects of science in Africa thanks to the shared knowledge between local and international scientists.
Naledi Pandor, minister of science and technology, added the investment by a leading global research organisation is "an important vote of confidence, in South African science in general and the MeerKat specifically".
She noted the partnership with Max Planck will boost MeerKat's ability to perform "transformational science" for the benefit of global knowledge production.
MeerKat will be the most sensitive cm wave radio telescope in the world until the SKA is built. SKA SA expects to make breakthroughs on pulsar research and other areas of astronomy.
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