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SKA, Meerkat and Other Radio Astronomy Projects 8/29/2019 SKA, MeerKAT and other Radio Astronomy SKA - Why are we involved ? Projects: Overview and Update • Geographical advantage - pristine clear skies and radio quiteness in the Karoo • Scientific returns - growth in scientific outputs • Technological returns - reviving local manufacturing industry and big data • HCD and skills development - 1161 grants/bursaries awarded in total to create a pipeline of requisite skills • Socio-economic returns - educational improvements, job creation to communities and growth of SMMEs Briefing to the PPC on SKA 11 September 2019 • African development - strengthening institutional capacities • International partnerships - attracting foreign direct investment, skills transfer and technology exchange 2 Key Outstanding Questions: Development of Astronomy in SA Understanding of the Universe (1) • Optical Astronomy as the front runner SAAO with smaller telescopes and investments in Sutherland - 200 yrs anniversary in 2020 SALT with significant investment (R300m) and bigger impact - 15 yrs • Radio Astronomy HartRAO dish donated by NASA - 50 yrs old KAT7, MeerKAT and SKA and AVN - 10-15 years • Gamma Ray Astronomy - Participation in HESS telescope in Namibia – 10-15 years • Multiwavelength Astronomy Strategy approved in 2016 3 1 8/29/2019 Key Questions: Understanding of the Universe (2) Slide: Phil Diamond Understanding Radio Astronomy What is the SKA (1) ? • It’s a global project that endeavours to the build largest radio telescope ever built - and will become the largest scientific infrastructure in Africa and the world • Original concept to build a surface collecting area of 1 square kilometre • 5 times more sensitive than existing instruments • 3 000 antennas spread out from the core • Remote stations out to ~3000 km • A massive data machine • Data rates exceed the entire global internet traffic • Will require the fastest supercomputer ever built • Advanced technologies relevant for the 4th Industrial Revolution 7 8 Source: BBC Science 2 8/29/2019 What is the SKA (2) ? SKA in SA and Australia • Located in 3 sites with Headquarters in Manchester (UK), South Africa and Australia Africa – will be managed through an Inter- (mid‐frequency) Governmental Organization (IGO) • 13 international member countries are involved, around 100 organisations across about 20 countries are participating in the design and development of the SKA • Eight African countries involved as partners to host outer stations Australia (low‐frequency) 9 10 SKA Member Countries MeerKAT and SKA Roll Out SKA rolled out in a phased approach KAT-7 completed in 2010 as an engineering test bed - did some good science MeerKAT 64-dishes launched on 13 July 2018 by Deputy President Mabuza SKA Phase 1 (2020-2025)- budget of 850m Euros MeerKAT (64) + 133 dishes = 197 dishes in SA Up to 80 km baseline to core SKA Phase 2 (beyond 2025) Full dish requirement (3000 dishes, 3000km baseline) in SA Full dense aperture array requirement (250 stations, 180km baseline) in Australia 12 3 8/29/2019 MeerKAT core MeerKAT Expansion • MeerkAT Expansion – an extra 20 dishes - project will be jointly funded by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (MPG) and SARAO at estimate cost of R774,4m • Involves additional infrastructure - foundations, roads, power, fibre, water supply and security • Provides early construction with following benefits: Enhances the science capability of MeerKAT and further prepares SA scientists for SKA1 Reduces the schedule pressure for the SKA1 Demonstrates concrete progress to SKA funding stakeholders and boosts confidence in the project. Mitigates the risk of losing the capabilities at SARAO 13 www.dst.gov.za 14 Geographic Advantage - Karoo SKA MeerKAT Expansion Site & Population Density Location of 20 SKA dishes in relation to MeerKAT array (green) 18km Northern Cape 2% population 40% land area 15 www.dst.gov.za 16 16 4 8/29/2019 Implementation of Geographic Geographic Advantage Advantage The AGA Act is being implemented as follows: Protected by the Astronomy Geographic Advantage (AGA) • The Astronomy Management Authority (AMA) unit has been Act of 2007 – which gives the Minister powers to protect the established within DSI to implement the AGA act Northern Cape as an Astronomy Reserve • Regulations have been promulgated through public participation processes led by the DSI in consultation with SARAO • Dark skies in Sutherland – Optical astronomy: SALT is the largest optical telescope in the Southern hemisphere • Services providers in the area are now applying for permits to operate through AMA • Radio silence in Carnarvon: • Agreements have been entered into with certain sister departments and – MeerKAT and SKA entities to ensure harmonious co-existence of the telescope with other • Southern Skies position Africa as the next global hub for sectors such Department of Defense (ballistic operations) and ICASA astronomy facilities with attractive sites to fill the void: (spectrum management) – Gamma ray : HESS in Namibia is currently one of • Negotiations are under way with Department of Transport (Aviation) the premier gamma ray telescopes in the world – and Department of Minerals and Energy (mining and renewable energy – Hartebeeshoek Radio Observatory is critical to projects) global VLBI observations. Multiwavelength Astronomy Strategy approved in 2016 Scientific Returns Growth in Scientific Outputs • Scientific outputs grown from below average to twice above the global average – global ranking in astronomy increased from 33 to 21 • Size of astronomy community tripled over 15 yrs from 60 PhD astronomers to over 200 and pipeline is increasing “The country’s overall • output in the index grew by more than 40% in four • Significant HCD programme through SKA Bursary Programme years, driven by a – Over 1000 bursaries awarded (15% to African SKA partner countries) significant rise in its – Bursaries span from undergraduate to postdocs in astrophysics, engineering physical sciences WFC, and computing studies as well as artisanal/technical skills which jumped from 23.70 in 2012 to 39.31 in 2015. This result reflects South • Six Astronomy Research Chairs in SA – assisted to attract Africa’s strength in international renowned leading astronomers astronomy.” 19 5 8/29/2019 MeerKAT Image - Centre of Milky Way Galaxy Presidents Xi Jinping & Ramaphosa The MeerKAT Galactic Centre image was used during the last China/SA Bilateral meeting in South Africa. This is symbolic of the commitment of South Africa and China to the SKA project www.dst.gov.za Image of the centre of our galaxy unveiled during launch 22 MeerKAT Designed and Constructed in Technological Returns South Africa • MeerKAT/SKA revived local high-end Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) manufacturing industry - ROACH 3rd generation boards (SKARAB) • Digitiser Innovation: 1st design to sample signal directly at receiver No electronic interference in frequency bands and contamination inside Equipment expected to last for 30 years in extreme Karoo environment • 75% of MeerKAT components were sourced locally MeerKAT Data Centre has the fastest supercomputer in Africa built at a fraction of the costs by South Africans 24 6 8/29/2019 National Big Data Initiatives National Integrated Cyber- infrastructure System (NICIS) • Establishment of a regional data centre to a consortium led by UCT - focused • Amalgamated, initially on astronomy and bioinformatics physically distributed SKA cyber platform for • National e-Science Post-Graduate Teaching and Training Platform (NEPTTP) data intensive Environment Humans & Society awarded to a consortium led by Wits University - a multi-disciplinary e-Science research e‐Agriculture Energy Bioinformatics Health Master’s degree • Overarching Drivers of Big Data coordination & • Prof Russ Taylor, Research Chair on Big Data & Radio Astronomy at UCT/UWC national strategy for NICIS • The newly established Sol Plaatjie University introduced a first dedicated Cyber-infrastructure undergraduate degree in data science • DIRISA: national and regional data • The Big Data Africa Programme - is aimed at building computing capabilities in stewardship Computing Networking Data Skills & partner countries to prepare them for AVN and SKA Services Services Services Expertise • eResearch Skills Cyberinfrastructure (CHPC) (SANReN) (DIRISA) (HCD) • Recent Upgrade of CHPC facilities to Petascale to meet the data demands of development MeerKAT and SKA (Storage, African Cloud, etc) 26 MeerKAT and CHPC : Data Processing and CHPC and MeerKAT: Benefit from Archive CERN development • A very significant and generic Big Data deliverable from the MeerKAT project is the 20 peta-byte Ceph storage system that ... 64 dishes is used for the MeerKAT Tier-0 archive hosted at the CHPC premises 2 Tbps (SKA SA) • Ceph was developed at CERN for its Tier-0 archive, and Karoo Array Processor Building (CSP + SDP + some archive) MeerKAT Science Processing team have very successfully transferred the software platform to South Africa Other Tier 2 Other Tier 2 Centres 20 Gbps Centres (SANReN) • The hardware (i.e the physical disk drives) is based on the storage pods that were developed by MeerKAT team in partnership with Peralex (a local SMME) at a fraction of the cost CHPC IDIA Tier 2 of equivalent hardware on the market MeerKAT archive storage & science (10‐12 racks & some analysis support access to CPUs) 10 Gbps 27 28 7 8/29/2019 CHPC and MeerKAT: Benefit from CERN Innovation in Big Data development Radio Astronomy is a driver of 4IR • This hardware and software is now available to any South African
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