A staggering R1,9 billion has been allocated over three years for the The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and MeerKAT radio telescope projects. That is a lot of money on a project that South Africans don’t understand.

According to the Square Kilometre Array website, the SKA is not the average telescope system. Rather than filtering light waves to form images, the SKA project will compile pictures of our cosmos from radio waves. The SKA is the next generation mega telescope, 10 000 times more powerful than any existing technology.

It’s going to uncover mysteries of the universe, transfer signals from the cosmos at a rate greater than the entire global internet traffic, and explore intelligent life.

The MeerKAT is the pathfinder to the SKA, meaning it is currently the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope, until the SKA is completed in 2024. South Africa will build 64-dish antennae radio telescopes for the project.

In effect we are spending that kind of money to be the only country to host the world’s largest telescope, which the Science and Technology Minister, Naledi Pandor, said would benefit South Africa economically and also garner international recognition.

[Source: Media 24, ABC, SkillsPortal]