THE SQUARE KILOMETRE ARRAY: RADIO ASTRONOMY IN AFRICA
Event details
| Date | 18.05.2016 |
| Hour | 17:15 |
| Speaker |
Bernie Fanaroff astronomer who has been leading the SKA project in South Africa. |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
In this presentation I will describe the ambitious Square Kilometre Array (SKA) international project and its key science cases. I will describe the SKA design and construction process and the schedule for the first and second phases of the SKA construction. I will also describe South Africa’s bid to host the SKA in Africa, the establishment of a radio-quiet observatory site and its infrastructure by the SKA South Africa project, the design and construction of the 64-dish MeerKAT telescope (a precursor of SKA) and the unique technology developed for it. I will also describe the SKA South Africa Human Capital Programme, which has seen the growth of vibrant astronomy and instrumentation groups in South African universities and how the SKA has been used to develop local communities. I will talk about the African VLBI Network and how it is being used to develop scientific and technical capacity and skills in South Africa’s eight partner countries in Africa. I will describe our new project, Big Data Africa, which builds on the data challenges of the SKA, and the African Data-Intensive Research Cloud. In the context of this international frontier project, Swiss expertise in high technology, innovation and education will be welcome in making the challenging SKA project a successful one.
Practical information
- Expert
- Free
Organizer
- Jean-Paul KNEIB
Contact
- Jean-Paul KNEIB