The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Organisation is considering changing its governance structure to a treaty organisation because of tax. The organisation, comprising the countries that are financing the world’s biggest radio telescope, is currently a corporation
Browsing: Square Kilometre Array
The wind picks up, blowing whorls of dust down the street. The men sitting on the side of the road avert their eyes and retreat further into the shade of the colonial-style building they are leaning against. This was a common sight in Carnarvon in the Northern Cape in 2011, before
Science and technology minister Derek Hanekom on Tuesday unveiled programmes in Carnarvon, the town nearest to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) site, to boost maths and science education in the area. South Africa will be sharing the world’s largest telescope, which comprises
The first phase of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope in the Karoo could result in an inflow of R18bn into South Africa, says science & technology minister Derek Hanekom. “Preliminary estimates for the operations cost put the potential net foreign inflow into South Africa – for SKA phase one only
There was a bang, we think. About 14bn years ago, a tiny singularity — a point smaller than a pinhead and containing all the matter in our universe – exploded. We’re pretty sure. If we accept that the universe started with a bang – an “if” that is infinite and expanding at about 70km per second per megaparsec as you
As governments worry about how they will legislate the access to and analysis of “big data”, scientists are still trying to figure out how they’re going to cope with the deluge of information. “Big data is a very abused term that is bandied about a lot,” says Simon Ratcliffe, technical lead for scientific
In all of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) excitement, we’ve forgotten that it is first and foremost a scientific instrument, created to allow scientists to answer questions that can’t be answered with existing equipment: how are galaxies created? Are there other habitable planets? What is dark matter? What is
It is difficult to teach radio astronomy, which detects invisible radio waves, to students. It is not like optical astronomy where you can point a dish at the sky and stare at a star, says Anita Loots, associate director at Square Kilometre Array (SKA) South Africa. “The concepts are abstract because you can’t
Lengthy negotiations are underway to establish how much each country involved will pay for the first phase of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope, MPs heard on Wednesday. “The big issue is the funding model,” SKA South Africa project director Bernie Fanaroff told members
Losses at state-owned Broadband Infraco have widened substantially in the past year, with revenue collapsing by 40% on account of reduced business from the company’s largest customer, Neotel. Higher staff costs and increased network maintenance costs have hit the bottom line