SARAO News

The National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) have been working towards the consolidation of South Africa’s radio astronomy facilities.

The Minister of Science and Technology, the Honourable Naledi Pandor MP, has therefore gazetted the simultaneous withdrawal of the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) as a National Research Facility of the NRF and the establishment of the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) as a National Research Facility.

SARAO will incorporate HartRAO in the North West province, and all instruments and projects currently operated by Square Kilometre Array South Africa (SKA SA), including MeerKAT and the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT-7) in the Karoo, the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network (AVN) programme in nine African countries, as well as the associated human capital development and commercialisation endeavours.

The new observatory will be responsible for carrying out South Africa’s radio astronomy research and construction programme, operating as a central hub for radio astronomy and reinforcing South Africa’s position as a key player in this field. The establishment of SARAO will also allow for skills that already exist within the various radio astronomy projects to be deployed as required, making the system more resource efficient.

HartRAO, which was originally established as NASA’s Deep Space Station 51 in 1961, will continue its current operations in radio astronomy and space geodesy.

Dr Rob Adam
SARAO Managing Director