Invitation to the launch of the first Meerkat Antenna and the Karoo Array Processor Building
The Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Derek Hanekom, will host ministers from the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) African partner countries at the launch of the first MeerKAT antenna and the Karoo Array Processor Building.
The launch will take place at the South African SKA core site, near Carnarvon in the Northern Cape, on 27 March 2014. The completion of the first MeerKAT antenna coincides with South Africa's celebration of 20 years of democracy and freedom.
Science and technology ministers from Ghana, Madagascar, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, Mauritius and Kenya are expected to attend the event. (The African ministers will all meet the day before the launch, on 26 March 2014, in Pretoria, to discuss strategic SKA-related matters relevant to the partner countries).
The Director-General of the SKA Organisation, Prof. Phil Diamond, will also attend the launch, as will the Premier of the Northern Cape, local councillors and mayors, MeerKAT antenna and infrastructure contractors, the Director-General of Science and Technology and some of his deputy directors-general, and the SKA SA team lead by Dr Bernie Fanaroff.
MeerKAT is part of the South African SKA Project (SKA SA). When completed in 2016, MeerKAT will consist of 64 antennae and will be the most sensitive radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. Local and international radio astronomy communities have recognised the MeerKAT as an excellent instrument, and already more than 500 radio astronomers (58 from Africa) have been allocated time on MeerKAT. So far, they have been allocated a total of five years to conduct surveys of the universe using the telescope.
After the SKA site bid decision, the International SKA project decided to incorporate MeerKAT into SKA Phase 1 (SKA Phase 1 will constitute 25 per cent of the full SKA). The MeerKAT antenna technology, plus the available on-site infrastructure, is well aligned with the SKA requirements for the antenna array.
The MeerKAT Karoo Array Processor Building (data centre) has been constructed 5 m underground, in a bunker, to protect MeerKAT from radio frequency interference generated by the equipment located in the data centre. The data centre is the on-site facility that houses the centralised telescope equipment for the MeerKAT radio telescope. Scientific data from MeerKAT will be sent from the data centre to the science and engineering office in Cape Town, using a long-haul fibre-optic link, which is already in place. The data centre, as well as the other on-site infrastructure, was constructed by South African companies, and managed by the SKA SA infrastructure team based in Johannesburg.
There are more than 100 young scientists and engineers working on the MeerKAT project. The South African team, in collaboration with industry, global institutions and universities, has developed technologies and systems for the MeerKAT telescope, including composite telescope dishes and cutting-edge signal-processing hardware and algorithms.
Journalists are requested to send their names and identity numbers to David Mandaha at the Department of Science and Technology (072 126 8910 or david.mandaha@dst.gov.za) to get accreditation for the event and to confirm their attendance at the following sessions:
African Partners Ministerial meeting:
Date: 26 March 2014
Venue: Sheraton Hotel, Pretoria
Time: 9h00 to 14h00
Program_ SKA Africa Ministerial Meeting- Sheraton Hotel
Launch of first MeerKAT telescope at SKA site:
Date: 27 March 2014
Venue: Carnarvon, Northern Cape
Time: 09h30 to 14h30
