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THE SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY (SARAO)
The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) is a national facility of the National Research Foundation (NRF) and responsible for implementing South Africa’s strategic investment in radio astronomy, including leading South Africa’s involvement in the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project on behalf of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI). Its tasks include the development and operations of the state-of-the-art MeerKAT radio telescope in the Karoo and the geodesy and VLBI activities at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO).
SARAO also implements the Africa Programme, which includes coordination of the African VLBI Network (AVN) for the eight SKA partner countries in Africa (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar,
Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zambia), as well as South Africa’s contribution to the infrastructure and engineering planning and construction for the SKA radio telescope.
To maximise the return on South Africa’s investment in radio astronomy, SARAO manages programmes to create capacity in radio astronomy science and engineering research, and the technical capacity required to support site operations.
SARAO headquarters are located in Cape Town, not far from the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). The observing site, which is now part of the Meerkat National Park, is approximately 650 km north-east of Cape Town in the semi-arid region of the Karoo.
South Africa’s sparsely populated Karoo provides the perfect radio quiet backdrop for the groundbreaking MeerKAT and SKA-Mid telescopes. The MeerKAT telescope is operated remotely from Cape Town to reduce the number of people working at the telescope site and to minimise any potential radio interference.
In pursuit of establishing South Africa as an international hub for astronomy, radio astronomy investments in South Africa are complemented with investment in optical astronomy (the flagship instrument being the Southern African Large Telescope, SALT) and gamma ray astronomy (using the Namibian-based High Energy Stereoscopic System, H.E.S.S.).
To this end, SARAO’s vision is as a technical and scientific solutions provider to astronomy.
The beginnings of radio astronomy in South Africa
The Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) was South Africa’s first radio astronomy observatory. It is located in a valley in the Magaliesberg hills, 50 km northwest of Johannesburg in the province of Gauteng. It began as Deep Space Station 51 and was built in 1961 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States of America. An 85-foot (26-m) diameter antenna was used to get data from, and send commands to, many unmanned US space probes going beyond Earth orbit. These included the Ranger, Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter spacecrafts, which landed on the Moon or mapped it from orbit, the Mariner missions, which explored the planets Venus and Mars, and the Pioneers, which measured the Sun’s wind.
In 1975, the station was handed over to the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which converted it to a radio astronomy observatory. In 1988, the observatory became a national facility operated by the Foundation for Research Development (FRD), which became part of the NRF in 1999. >
Initially, the function of HartRAO was purely research in radio astronomy, but in the 1980s a new application called Space Geodesy (geodesy using space techniques) was implemented at HartRAO.
1.Working with Northern Cape Communities
A critical success factor for the establishment and operation of radio astronomy facilities in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape is the need to be accepted as a legitimate member of the community — conceptualised as having a ‘social license to operate’. This is achieved through active stakeholder management activities and initiatives undertaken by internal departments in partnership with local communities and stakeholders. These activities and initiatives are aimed at maximising and exploiting opportunities for positive impact in the local communities and are evaluated in terms of a benefit framework described by the following pillars:
• Education and skills development: a majority of interventions focus on skills and educational opportunities at local schools, including teacher support, educational programmes and bursaries;
• Community and cultural investments;
• Business and enterprise development; and
• Public good.
SARAO also provides science engagement and outreach activities that are aimed at popularizing science and astronomy education and awareness locally and nationally.
Education and skills development
A significant amount of SARAO’s investment in local communities has focused on providing educational opportunities to minimise the gap to access opportunities now and in the future. There are two programmes: the Schools programme and the Artisan Training programme. Both
are part of the Human Capital Development (HCD) programme which was established by SARAO in 2005.
Community and cultural investments
SARAO manages a community development granting programme that is aimed at supporting community initiatives to address social issues such as early childhood development, literacy programmes, and youth development programmes. The Siyafunda Community Technology Centre, for example, is aimed at bridging the digital access and literacy divide by providing access to ICT services for local community members. It also offers training and support to improve digital skills, and creates a community space for collaboration.
The Swartkop Multipurpose Community Centre is supported through a community development grant. It provides a space for various community services including an early childhood development centre, community library and a soup kitchen.
Other community development projects include the installation of Wi-Fi hotspots in all local libraries in the community, participation in local sports and cultural initiatives.
SARAO also participates in promoting local heritage and cultural initiatives in local communities. The promotion of indigenous knowledge and culture is embedded in the SARAO Declaration on Local Indigenous Peoples, which focuses on the promotion and protection of indigenous culture, heritage and indigenous knowledge systems, the development of the youth of local indigenous peoples, participation in human capital development, and other community development programmes delivered by SARAO. The Riel Dance Festival, for example, celebrates the cultural dances of local indigenous peoples (see image), whilst the Medicinal Plant Study captures indigenous knowledge on the use of plants for medicinal purposes.
Business and enterprise development
Economic development is a crucial part of our work in local communities. To this end, SARAO runs a local business development programme that aims to capacitate local businesses and ensure that they can maximise benefit from activities initiated by the various projects related to the SKA. Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) receive continuous business support to assist them to take advantage of local opportunities, gaining access to new markets, and other administrative services to ensure that they meet the necessary regulatory requirements.
As a result of the SMME development programmes, small businesses that participated in the programme have successfully participated in the MK extension project. A total of 33 of these were pre-qualified work packages. Twelve of the pre-qualified businesses were successful in the tender process to subcontract under a consortium appointed to deliver infrastructure works for the MeerKAT extension project.
The MeerKAT Creative Community Initiative is aimed at developing local craft makers from disadvantaged backgrounds and providing them with creative skills training, basic business and marketing and other skills, and on how to run sustainable businesses in arts and craft. Crafters are requested to produce corporate gifts for SARAO/SKAO related events from time to time. These events include visits by ministers and international partners to the SKA site near Carnarvon, as well as the conferences hosted by SARAO nationally.
SARAO also hosts the Karoo Innovation Challenge, a competition aimed at fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in the local community.
The Karoo Innovation Challenge is a sub-programme of the Karoo Enterprise Development programme managed by the SARAO Commercialisation unit, generating innovative ideas that provide solutions to pressing societal issues.
Winners from the Karoo Innovation Challenge received financial assistance and training prizes. The grants are intended to be applied towards advancing their businesses. In addition, all 20 finalists received pitch training from the National Youth Development Agency in collaboration with the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), that is, they were taught how to present the core values, mission and visions of their businesses in a concise and clear manner. Since January 2023, they also receive incubation and business support.
2.Human Capital Development
Since its inception, the HCD programme has successfully grown an active, globally-recognised and transformed radio astronomy community in South Africa. This community participates in and exploits the scientific and technical research opportunities that have been made available through South Africa’s investments in radio astronomy and thereby continues to secure the country’s return on its investment. The HCD strategy has and continues to focus on creating a critical mass of world leading research groups in South African universities, and, to a lesser extent, in universities in the SKA African partner countries, through supporting science and engineering undergraduate and postgraduate students, postdoctoral fellows and academics, and collaborations with leading international universities. In parallel, the strategy addresses capacity requirements for the maintenance and operation of the telescopes by supporting young people to obtain relevant technician and artisan qualifications and experience.
The intention is for SARAO’s HCD programme to continue in the era of the SKA because the construction and operation of the SKA as well as the significant science opportunities the telescopes will provide necessitate that relevant capacity development continues, at least at the current annual rate.
Universities programme
When South Africa submitted its expression of interest to host the SKA in 2003, there were five radio astronomers in South Africa. Since then, over 1,500 scholarships and fellowships have been awarded by SARAO. However, the measure of success of the SARAO HCD programme lies not in the number of grants awarded, but rather in the impact the programme has had on the South African and African academic and research sector, and on South African industry.
To date, nearly 70% of individuals funded by SARAO scholarships, fellowships and grants are employed in positions at South African and other African universities, SARAO and other national research facilities, and in industry.
Schools programme in the Northern Cape communities
Since 2007 and as part of its HCD initiative, SARAO has coordinated and funded various interventions in the primary and high schools located in towns close to the SKA site in the Karoo. The schools in this region, like many rural schools in South Africa, service financially constrained communities that cannot afford to pay school fees. The schools therefore rely completely on the funds they receive from the Department of Education, which only covers the most basic costs. In addition, due to the remote location of the schools, it is an ongoing challenge for the schools to attract and retain qualified educators, especially for Mathematics and Physical/Natural Sciences.
Due to the scientific and technological nature of the work done by SARAO as well as the fact that mathematics and science are the most under-resourced subjects in South Africa, the intention of SARAO’s school programme is to assist with mathematics and science teaching and learning.
The interventions to date have included the secondment of qualified and experienced mathematics and science educators to the schools, “Reading with comprehension” programmes, summer/winter SET schools, a Lego Robotics programme, Wi-Fi connectivity and other ICT infrastructure, including the establishment of a Cyberlab at Carnarvon High School (CHS).
To encourage learners to pursue Mathematics and Physical Science to grade 12, SARAO established in 2014 a bursary programme for grade 8 to 12 learners to study at CHS --- since it is the only school in the region offering Mathematics and Physical Science to grade 12 level. Learners who meet the minimum academic requirements and who commit to studying mathematics and physical science to grade 12 receive a bursary that covers their school fees as well as hostel and travel costs for learners who do not live in Carnarvon. Since the start of the programme, SARAO has provided 259 learner bursaries.
Artisans training in the Northern Cape communities
The Artisan Training programme aims at developing skilled artisans from the local community. To date, 120 artisans trained to become fiber technicians, IT technicians, electricians, boilermakers, fitters and turners, mechanics, and instrument control technicians. The Artisan Training centre is currently being relocated and expanded to accommodate more trades and students.
CONTACT DETAILS:
General enquiries: enquiries@ska.ac.za
Tel: +27 (0)21 506 7300
Fax: +27 (0)21 506 7375
Postal/Street address:
2 Fir Street, Black River Park, Observatory (North Gate entrance), 7925
