November 05, 2014
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Nine African countries including Kenya have agreed to strengthen their cooperation in radio astronomy research.
Kenya’s Longonot Earth station: The scientists also discussed how Kenya can participate in the construction and use of the station to co-host the largest radio telescope in the world.
Delegates attending a two day Square Kilometer Array (SKA) Senior Officials meeting (SOM) in Nairobi recently arrived at a consensus to formalize their engagement through a Memorandum of Understanding.
The partner countries represented in the meeting include: South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Mauritius, Ghana, Madagascar, Zambia, Botswana and host Kenya.
The meeting attended by policy makers and space scientists discussed how Kenya can participate in the construction and use of the Longonot earth station to co-host the largest radio telescope in the world. The SKA project is to be implemented in three phases and is expected to commence in 2016 and be completed by 2024. The cost of the construction of the telescope is estimated to be about 1.5billion Euros (Kshs 170 billion or US $ 1.9 billion).
The draft MOU is expected to be finalized and ratified by the member countries during forthcoming SKA meetings. The meeting also discussed the SKA Africa Readiness Strategy and joint implementation plan and cost estimates for partner states in hosting the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network (AVN) and SKA dishes.
The meetings objective was to consolidate Africa’s support and strategize on how best to make maximum use of this opportunity to lead in global science and position Kenya as a regional center for Basic Space Science.
During the official opening of the meeting, Education, Science and Technology Principal Secretary Prof. Jacob Kaimenyi noted that this partnership has effectively enhanced awareness around the requirements for hosting radio astronomy instrumentation and the associated benefits that could be derived in making such commitments. He noted that the SKA is expected to bring notable benefits and large capital investments including new job opportunities, increased business opportunity for local industries during and after the construction.
Prof. Kaimenyi also said that, the Government has created and is implementing an Science Technology and Innovation (ST&I) policy framework to support the country’s Vision 2030 by devoting resources to scientific research, technical capabilities of the workforce, and in raising the quality of teaching science and technology in learning institutions. He informed the meeting that the Science Technology and Innovation Act of 2013 provides for allocation of at least 2 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for research and development (R&D). He added that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is in the process of establishing a National Research Fund to realize the 2 percent provision.
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The Square Kilometre Array will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope. The total collecting area will be approximately one square kilometre giving 50 times the sensitivity, and 10 000 times the survey speed, of the best current-day telescopes. The SKA will be built in Southern Africa and in Australia. Thousands of receptors will extend to distances of 3 000 km from the central regions. The SKA will address fundamental unanswered questions about our Universe including how the first stars and galaxies formed after the Big Bang, how dark energy is accelerating the expansion of the Universe, the role of magnetism in the cosmos, the nature of gravity, and the search for life beyond Earth. Construction of phase one of the SKA is scheduled to start in 2016. The SKA Organisation, with its headquarters at Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Manchester, UK, was established in December 2011 as a not-for-profit company in order to formalise relationships between the international partners and centralise the leadership of the project.
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