27 September 2012, Manchester UK – The team from the international SKA office returned to Manchester from South Africa last week following a visit to the South African SKA site.

The team from the SKA office met with the South African management and engineering teams in Cape Town to gain further understanding of the scientific, technical and managerial aspects of the SKA precursor telescope MeerKAT. The group then travelled to the remote SKA site near the small town of Carnarvon in the Northern Cape Province to see and experience for themselves the existing infrastructure and systems currently at the South African site.

The SKA office team will also make a similar visit to Australia in October 2012. The information gathered during these visits will be used to develop, in partnership with the Australian and South African teams, a detailed implementation plan for the integration of the ASKAP and MeerKAT precursor telescopes and associated infrastructure into phase one of the SKA.