Nine countries, including SA, have signed a letter of intent to see the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope built.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) says Australia, China, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands and New Zealand signed the letter in Italy this month.
By doing so, they declared their common intention to see the SKA built and agreed to work together to secure funding for the next phase of the project.
SA and Australia are bidding against each other to host the mega telescope. A final decision on the host country is expected to be made in 2012.
New headquarters
The signing took place at a meeting that established the Founding Board for the SKA as a new management structure to guide the project into the next phase.
“The new board announced that the SKA Project Office will be based at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Manchester, in the UK. It is expected to supersede the existing SKA Development Office, currently based at the University of Manchester.”
The department adds that, apart from the nine countries which have already signed the letter of intent, several countries have indicated they will sign in future.
“It is hoped that a formal structure will be established in July, at the international SKA Forum in Canada.”
More than 70 institutes in 20 countries, together with industry partners, are participating in the scientific and technical design of the telescope.
Skills boost
The project cost is EUR1.5 billion and construction could start as early as 2016, according to the DST.
“The signatory parties represent organisations of national scale and will coordinate groups carrying out SKA research and development (R&D) in their respective countries.”
The department adds that the development and construction of the MeerKAT radio telescope is playing an important role in the development of the SKA, and SA's expertise will be fully involved in the global effort to develop the cutting-edge science and technology to be used by the SKA.
“The design, construction and operation of the telescope has the potential to impact on skills development in science, engineering and in associated industries not only in the host countries but in all project partner countries.”
African partnership
The DST also announced that SA and Tanzania will sign a bilateral agreement in Tanzania today to provide a framework for cooperation in science and technology.
To be discussed at the meeting are possible programmes by Tanzania to support the bid to host the SKA.
The DST says a recent study has shown a relatively low level of investment - 0.24% of GDP - in research and development in Tanzania.
“This provides significant opportunity for SA, through the DST, to provide support to Tanzania in developing its science and technology system, thereby strengthening regional integration in the science and technology sector.”
The DST says it held consultative workshops with Tanzania on developing policies on science, technology and innovation, and has hosted a number of technical visits in this regard from 2008 to 2010.
It is expected that SA will host a technical delegation of senior officials from Tanzania in the second quarter of 2011, to map out priority areas of cooperation; agree on joint resources to fund the activities; and discuss a three-year plan of action.
Mega bid
The SKA is a mega telescope, about 100 times more sensitive than the biggest existing radio telescope.
It will consist of approximately 3 000 dish-shaped antennae and other hybrid receiving technologies, with a core of about 2 000 antennae and outlying stations of 30 to 40 antennae each, spiralling out of the core. These stations will be spread over a vast area of up to 3 000km.
Research areas will include observational radio astronomy, radio astronomy instrumentation, digital signal processing, distributed data processing and RF broadband feeds, receivers and cryogenic packages.
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