Science minister opens site for construction of Karoo Array Telescope (KAT) prototype
10.11.06

Astronomers, engineers, educators and journalists from around South Africa gathered at Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory on 2 November 2006 to celebrate the official kick-off of the construction of a prototype for the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT).

“Today is a significant step towards achieving our vision of providing another cutting edge window on the universe from the African continent,” said Mr Mosibudi Mangena, South Africa’s minister for Science and Technology. He added that he was confident that the country’s investment in a science instrument that could look back in time 14 billion years to the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang, would deliver some Nobel Prize winners in future. “This dish is an example of mission-driven innovation and will be a proudly South African product”, the minister added. He congratulated the KAT team on what they had achieved so far and assured them of the full support of the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

Anita Loots, KAT project manager, thanked the Department for the confidence placed in her team of engineers and promised that they would not disappoint the minister in the process of building one of the best telescopes in the world. She pointed out that the highly innovative approach that they are taking in building the KAT is not without risk, but added that the team was confident that this was the only way to deliver a cost-effective solution for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). “We are optimising the cost all the time, and in the process driving down the cost all the time,” she said.

The minister officially opened the site where a prototype of the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT) will be built by ceremoniously cutting a ribbon and unveiling a 1:50 scale model of the prototype dish.

The KAT engineering team will use the full size prototype dish, a single antenna 20m high and 15m in diameter, as the basis upon which to test all the components and systems of the KAT. The next phase will be to construct the twenty similar antennae of the KAT on a remote site near Carnarvon in the Northern Cape. The prototype dish has to be finished by mid 2007, after which the computing and digital signal processing components will be added.

Once the KAT trials have been completed, the prototype dish will be used for ongoing radio astronomy research, including the study of pulsars.

Through building this prototype and the KAT, South Africa is proving that it has the capacity and expertise to build high-tech radio astronomy instruments. This should boost South Africa's chances in the bid to host the world's largest radio telescope ever, the SKA, in the country. South Africa and Australia are the only two countries still in the running to host this mega telescope that will cost more than a billion euros.

"This prototype dish will not only be the test bed for all KAT components, but it will also strengthen our industry's capacity to design and construct large dishes," Anita Loots said earlier. "This will make it possible for South African industry to compete for contracts on SKA, no matter where the telescope is ultimately built."

A consortium led by IST Dynamics Pty Ltd, a South African engineering company, has been awarded the contract to design and construct the KAT prototype dish. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the National Lotteries Board (NLB) are the joint funders of the first phase of the KAT, while the National Research Foundation (NRF) administers the project.

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Enquiries: Marina Joubert marina@ska.ac.za
Updates on SKA South Africa and the KAT project at: www.ska.ac.za

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