Remote location in South Africa contributes to pioneering science of the universe

• Elena van Gelder

  correspondent Africa

It seems almost unthinkable: a mega telescope capable of collecting signals immediately after the big bang that are still floating in the universe and converting them into photos. However, scientists think it will soon be possible: this week the green light was given for the construction of the largest radio telescope in the world: the Square Kilometer Array, aka the SKA telescope.

The telescope will map parts of the universe that we’ve never seen before. This is a two billion dollar international mega project, in which the Netherlands is also investing.

The telescope is under construction in two locations, in Western Australia and South Africa. In the latter country, an existing radio telescope of 63 antennas will be expanded to 197 antennas and in Australia more than 130,000 antennas will be placed in a location where a predecessor already stands. All measurements will soon be grouped.

Tracey Cheetham, director of infrastructure for the SKA in South Africa, this week had a really great tour of the site where the construction will take place in South Africa. A visit is rarely possible, because the MeerKAT telescope that already exists is extremely sensitive.

That’s why the telescope is located in one of the most peaceful places in the world, in the vast Karoo desert region, in a place where there is no mobile coverage. However, all phones and smart watches must be turned off before entering the park. Because Bluetooth can also interrupt measurements.

“This telescope listens to the universe,” says Cheetham, who is responsible for building the mega telescope in South Africa. “All stars and galaxies emit radio waves, which are received by dishes and digitized. And we can then make images of them, a picture of space. And the more dishes there are, the more pixels we can, so to speak, take.”

The telescope is to become fifty times more sensitive than our current telescopes and will soon be able not only to take sharper pictures, but also to look farther. “Like what happened after the big bang when we went from dark to light. It’s amazing, but those radio waves are still traveling towards us. We also hope to learn more about the formation of stars and galaxies.”

South Africa is satisfied with the mega project. First, it is now producing construction contracts for roads and for giant fiber optic networks, which are being built to process all data in the future.

“This is not only a big science project, but also a huge data project,” Cheetham says. “All information will soon be transferred from antennas to a giant data center in Cape Town. It will then be sent to supercomputers in various other places around the world. The fiber optic cables we have laid for the SKA telescope can go around the our globe twice.”

The information will also soon be sent to a scientific data center in the Netherlands. As a partner country, the Netherlands hopes to be at the forefront of innovative research. “We already have the computers here to process the data from our Lofar radio telescope,” says Frank Nuijens of Astron, the Dutch Institute of Radio Astronomy. We will expand it to process SKA data.”

According to Nuijens, it can produce scientific research that can win you Nobel prizes. “Like when the lights went on in the universe. We will also challenge Einstein’s general theory of relativity and investigate extraterrestrial life.”

For Richard Robyn, in his early twenties, such a Nobel prize is still a long way from my bed, but he is already reaping the rewards of the initiative. He works at a training center near the village of Carnarvon, 53 miles from the telescope. In that training center young South Africans are trained to become electricians, indispensable in the maintenance of the telescope.

Robyn fumbles around a classroom and tries to find a fault in an electrical panel. “There’s almost no work here in the countryside,” she says. “Now I have the opportunity to learn and support my family. I hope to be able to work at the telescope, I like being close to my village, but otherwise I can use my knowledge elsewhere.”

Scientists expect the telescope will produce the first observations in four years to add to current knowledge.