October 2014

Quarterly newsletter for South Africa’s Square Kilometre Array project

The first of 64 MeerKAT antenna. See page 4 for an update.

Dr Mike Gaylard: the Ancient wisdom inspires Artists from the First Hard work pays off for SKA passing of a good friend Shared Skies project People Centre scholarship recipient 03 08 09 14 people GOOD-BYE

Dr Bernie Fanaroff with graduates from the Department of Astronomy at the University of Cape Town TO AN OLD FRIEND The global radio astronomy community was recently saddened by the premature death THE SUCCESS OF THE NATION of a true stalwart of experimental science and education, Dr Mike Gaylard. Right up until it became impractical for him to Network (AVN), a vision to have a network of radio continue, Dr Mike Gaylard did what he had done astronomy telescopes throughout Africa, and actively Mike’s technical, throughout his whole life: work selflessly to ensure participated in and championed its development. The scientific and moral LIES WITH ALL OF US the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory AVN has the potential to spread radio astronomy as a Dr Bernie Fanaroff was recently awarded an honorary degree from the University of Cape Town in recognition of (HartRAO) was operating to his own high standards. science across the African continent. support contributed his scientific reputation, diplomatic skills and his enormous commitment and efforts in bringing a major part of Mike was a dedicated scientist, passionate about He was among the key people who helped get the greatly to South the SKA project to South Africa. his work and his students, and who saw great National Astronomy and Space Science Programme Africa’s successful possibilities for the development of radio astronomy (NASSP) started. The NASSP school at HartRAO was participation in the “I want us to use the Square Kilometre Array to a place where you can do the world’s best science and on the African continent. something he enjoyed organising and which has international SKA win Nobel prizes in Africa. It requires tenacity develop and build cutting-edge, world-class technology. He constantly ensured that good science was helped introduce a generation of SA astronomers project. The SKA is a sense and application, but there is no reason why we It’s already reversed the ‘brain drain’ in astronomy,” being enabled, students were being trained, future to the practicalities of radio observing. He also shouldn’t want Nobel prizes to be won by African said Bernie as he detailed a focus on education and generations of scientists were being enthralled by the understood that South African astronomers would of achievement for scientists in Africa. Let’s go out and do it.” This creating a critical mass of scientific talent to support wonders of the cosmos, and that his recent pet project, do so much better working together than in their all South Africans. was the challenge Dr Bernie Fanaroff issued at the big projects like the SKA in the foreseeable future. the African VLBI Network, was progressing well. individual silos. graduation of students of the Faculties of Science “For me the SKA should give a sense of Mike’s technical, scientific and moral support The MeerKAT is and Engineering & the Built Environment at the achievement for all South Africans. The MeerKAT contributed greatly to South Africa’s successful INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIM one of the world’s University of Cape Town earlier this year. Bernie will be one of the world’s premier science facilities, participation in the international SKA project. He was also highly regarded by colleagues around was awarded an honorary Science doctorate, which designed and built mainly by South Africans, but the world. premier science he dedicated to the outstanding team that worked demanded by the rest of the world.” A NOTEWORTHY CAREER Mike was the driving force behind South Africa’s facilities. Designed so hard to bring the SKA to South Africa This is just the beginning, as astronomy has Mike joined the staff of HartRAO on 1 December membership of the Joint Institute for VLBI in “You don’t have to go overseas to be global always pushed the boundaries of technology and, 1976, after having graduated that same year Europe (JIVE), which carries out a wide range of and built by South leaders; you can do it here,” said Bernie in a in the case of Big Data, Bernie believes that the with an MSc degree from Rhodes University on research and development activities in VLBI-related Africans, but speech to the graduation. “We live in a country with SKA will contribute to sustaining one of the fastest- “The Performance of a 22 GHz Radio Telescope”. fields, including radio astronomy data processing problems, but problems create opportunities and it’s growing global industries of the future. “SKA will His initial work at HartRAO was in the field of and applications of VLBI and radio astronomy wanted by the rest people like you, well educated and young, who must generate data faster than has ever been done before, HII regions and recombination lines at 2.3 GHz. technologies. of the world. seize these opportunities. as much as 50 times as much data traffic as the He completed his PhD on “Radio Studies of At the 2014 International Union of Radio Science “Remember that Africa is increasingly being entire worldwide web,” explained Bernie. Our local Ionised Hydrogen in the Southern Milky Way” (URSI) General Assembly in Beijing, the recognised as the continent of the future, with resources and local and international collaboration using the HartRAO 26m telescope in 1989. His passing of distinguished radio astronomers immense potential for economic development. It can with partners such as Cambridge University, work branched out into the field of 1612 MHz OH over the past three years was marked by a be the next big business destination, and not just for ASTRON, IBM, Intel and CISCO, will play a key role masers with the installation of the 18cm receiver period of silence. He would have been proud the extraction of minerals and raw materials. The in developing the technology to be used by the SKA. in 1985. His field of work then expanded to include and amused to see that his name was need for skills and know-how and infrastructure Our universities will also play a role in producing methanol masers in star-forming regions, where in the same roll of honour as that of Sir to develop this potential is immense and it creates excellent research and young people. he collaborated extensively with Dr Gordon Bernard Lovell – one of the founders of his huge opportunities for enterprising young people “Big Data is a new industry and will be one of the Macleod (then of HartRAO) and Dr Johan van der beloved scientific pursuit. such as yourselves.” most important industries of the next decade,” said Walt of North West University. With the increase Mike had the ability to make time to Bernie reminisced over his own career, not only in Bernie. It will be used to underpin the development in the staff complement at HartRAO, he was talk to and encourage students, even radio astronomy but also as an activist in the trade of technologies ranging from smart cities to smart appointed leader of the Spectral Lines Programme with a very busy schedule. To many union movement in the troubled 70s and 80s. “We were electricity grids and smart health services. “US and had some 70+ publications to his name. young people he set a great example able to achieve what many thought impossible: to build company CISCO recently estimated that this industry Mike had an insatiable need to pass on his as a leader and a scientist. a strong, democratic, worker-controlled movement, will be worth trillions of dollars within a few years. knowledge and experience to others, be they school An appropriate memorial which was able to grow despite harsh opposition.” There is no reason South Africa should not be a learners, university students, fellow astronomers, marking Mike’s contribution to After a stint in government at the helm of the leading player in this new industry. staff at the observatory, journalists or the general radio astronomy and science Reconstruction and Development Programme, he “We have excellent universities, researchers public. He supervised numerous students in their education will be established returned to astronomy in 2003 as part of the nascent and young people, as well as a government that is assignments and research projects, and headed at the SKA site in the Karoo. His SKA project. “We wanted to show the world that committed to building a knowledge-based economy the Science Awareness Outreach Programme at South African colleagues, and we could build the most technically advanced and and is investing in it. HartRAO. Several members from the HartRAO the SKA South Africa project office exciting science instruments in Africa, which was “What do we have to do now to become a world Science Awareness Programme have since joined in particular, mourn his passing something that many people inside and outside leader in Big Data? There is a global lack of skills in the SKA project. and will miss his intrinsic South Africa didn’t believe at the time,” he said. Big Data. This is an example of an opportunity that can Mike was instrumental in conceptualising the knowledge and dedication “The SKA can change the way the world sees us: as contribute to making South Africa a winning nation.” African Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) to the field of astronomy.

2 SKA NEWS | October 2014 SKA NEWS | October 2014 3 project update project update

SKA PHASES AND DATES l Precursors (MeerKAT in RSA and ASKAP in Australia) start l Construction of SKA1 from 2018-2023 FIRST MEERKAT science in about 2016, merge into SKA1 about 2020 l Early science with (part of) SKA1 from 2020 l SKA pre-construction (design and prototype) 2013-2016 l Design of SKA2 from 2018-2021 l Prototypes on the ground 2016 (includes prototype SKA1 dish l Construction of SKA Phase 2 (SKA2) 2023-2028 estimated antennas and Mid-Frequency Aperture Array in the Karoo) l SKA2 infrastructure 2021-2022 estimated DIGITISER INSTALLED l Tenders for construction of SKA Phase 1 (SKA1) in 2017 MeerKAT engineers have fitted the telescope’s first digitiser that converts incoming sky data – in the form of analogue radio waves – to a format that can be processed by computers. A special component known as an analogue to digital converter (ADC) is responsible for the conversion.

Article by ScienceLink – www.sciencelink.co.za

This particular digitiser samples radio frequency signals from the L-band of the electromagnetic spectrum at an incredible rate, generating an amount of data equivalent to about eight DVDs every second. Later, in the array’s second construction phase, three more digitisers will be installed onto each antenna to cover the UHF, X- and S-bands. “Once the signal is converted, the digitiser sends the data along fibre optic cables to the correlator, which is situated in the Karoo Array Processing Building (KAPB),” explains Sias Malan, MeerKAT digitiser manager at SKA SA. The KAPB is situated at the Losberg site complex, and is a specialised underground bunker constructed to house all the data processing racks, as well as the power and back-up equipment required for the MeerKAT array. The locally-developed MeerKAT digitiser is a first-of-its-kind design, as MEERKAT PROGRAMME UPDATE it is located in the most sensitive part of the antenna without compromising On 27 March, in the presence of dignitaries The first of the the signal integrity of the telescope. from around the world, South Africa’s MeerKAT antennas Receiver Traditional designs locate the digitiser then Minister of Science and Technology, being transported to separately in a controlled and shielded Derek Hanekom, unveiled the first of site and assembled, environment. The new design is less 64 antennas that will make up South earlier this year. complex and more cost effective while Africa’s new radio telescope – MeerKAT. improving signal quality. It is also On the same day, the Minister opened extremely robust with an expected the specialised MeerKAT Karoo Array operational life of 10 to 15 years. Processor Building – the cutting edge In addition, its components are Digitiser data centre for the MeerKAT telescope shielded so that no radio frequency that has been built in an underground interference distorts the incoming bunker at the Karoo observatory site. signals from space. It can operate Nearly 200 engineers and scientists over a temperature range of -10 to 50 are currently associated with the SKA SA degrees Celcius without cooling fans. project office, either directly employed More Sias says the pioneering technology or through universities and industry. information on employed in the device would be MeerKAT will be the most sensitive the MeerKAT useful for any application that requires cm-wavelength array telescope in the project to high-speed, high-dynamic-range data world. The design allows for very reliable follow in the conversion with limited interference. and low operating costs – long Mean next issue of As such, a number of further Time Between Failures (MTBF) and SKA News. commercialisation opportunities exist short Mean Time To Repair (MTTR). for the South African technology.

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