Reports that are as yet unconfirmed, but that nevertheless come from good sources, suggest that there is a big bonus in store for this week’s Scifest Africa.
Reports that are as yet unconfirmed, but that nevertheless come from good sources, suggest that there is a big bonus in store for this week’s Scifest Africa.
Over the past few days, the internet has been abuzz with reports traced back to the Sydney Morning Herald indicating that the scientific panel for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope has favoured South Africa’s bid ahead of the joint Australia and New Zealand proposal.
This is extraordinarily good news for South Africa, because although the final decision rests with the SKA board of directors consisting of representatives from China, Holland, Italy and Britain, the scientific panel report is extremely influential.
It essentially says that from a scientific point of view, South Africa has a better bid than Australia. It is conceivable that Australia might yet win the rights to host the radio telescope which will be one of the biggest science experiments of all time – but if they win it, the reasons will have nothing to do with the scientific component.
The report is particularly good news for Grahamstown because a substantial amount of the science behind the bid was generated here at Rhodes University.
One of the lead scientists who drew up the South African proposal, Professor Justin Jonas, and several other key contributors, are from this university.
In terms of the South African bid to host the SKA, around 3 000 dish antennas will be built at the core site in the Northern Cape and other locations in Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Mauritius, Madagascar, Zambia, Kenya and Ghana.
The total surface area of these dishes is expected to be the equivalent of one square kilometre. The aim of the multi-billion dollar SKA project is to scan radio waves from the deepest reaches of the universe and help in the search for alien life. No official date has been set for the announcement of which country will host SKA, but it is believed that a formal announcement could be made as early as next month.
So this year’s Scifest Africa, with the theme “Science rocks”, will begin on a confidently upbeat note. Science Minister, Naledi Pandor will officially open Scifest on Friday evening and she will most certainly have some comments about SKA – even though it is perhaps still too early to begin gloating.
