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

2 November 2006

The site where a prototype of the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT) will be built, was officially opened by South Africa's Minister for Science and Technology, Mr Mosibudi Mangena, at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) today (2 November 2006). The minister also unveiled 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 Square Kilometre Array (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," says Anita Loots, KAT Project Manager. "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.

Key contacts for SKA and KAT in South Africa

• SKA office in Rosebank, Johannesburg; Tel: (011) 442-2434
• KAT office in Pinelands, Cape Town; Tel: (021) 531-7282
• KAT project manager: Anita Loots; Email: aloots@ska.ac.za
• Assistant SKA Project Manager / Bursaries and Grants: Kim de Boer;
  Email: kdeboer@ska.ac.za
• Media enquiries: Marina Joubert; Email: marina@ska.ac.za

Regular electronic newsletter about the SKA and KAT projects at www.ska.ac.za/newsletter