The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is calling on all learners in grades 4 to 11 to enter a competition in which they could win themselves wonderful prizes, just by answering five easy questions.
Laptops, printers, digital cameras and organised tours to their nearest astronomy observatory are up for grabs, in the competition conceptualised to increase awareness about Africa's bid to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
Africa and Australia-New Zealand are the only two bidders in the running to host this international mega telescope, which will be used to collect radio waves from space.
The SKA will be a mega radio telescope, consisting of about 3 000 dish-shaped antennae spread over an area of over 3 000 km. If Africa wins the bid, the core of the telescope will be constructed in Carnarvon in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape, with outlying telescope stations in other parts of South Africa as well as Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia and Zambia.
For South Africa, some of the benefits would include a boost to the country's existing efforts to develop high-level skills, helping it to compete effectively in the global knowledge economy.
If Africa wins the bid, South Africa could become a global centre for information technology, fundamental physics, astronomy and high-tech engineering, and would attract some of the best scientists and engineers in the world.
Southern African countries will also derive major benefits, including a boost in radio astronomy research, increased student training and infrastructure layout.
Entry forms for the competition can be downloaded from the websites of the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA), South African SKA Project Office (SASPO) and Department of Science and Technology (www.saasta.ac.za, www.ska.ac.za and www.dst.gov.za).
Entries marked "MeerKAT-SKA Schools Competition" may be posted to PO Box 1758, Pretoria, 0001, or delivered to SAASTA, Didacta Building, 211 Skinner Street, Pretoria.
The competition closes on 31 March 2012.
The competition is coordinated by the DST's implementing agency, SAASTA.
Enquiries:
Anacletta Koloko
Tel: 012 392 9338
E-mail: anacletta@saasta.ac.za
DST announces MeerKAT-Square Kilometre Array school competition
