Local impact study of HERA shows direct benetsofradio astronomy infrastructure BY MATHIEU ISIDRO (SKAO)
of the investment towards infrastructure was made to the Northern Cape, with materials sourced from local suppliers during construction of the infrastructure, demonstrating the value of hosting such infrastructure for local businesses.
Ataregionallevel,itwasfoundthatCarnarvonbenete most from the investment. In terms of employment, over the course of seven years, the construction of HERA created employment for 24 individuals who were mostly recruited from the town.
& TheimpactstudyshowshowSouthAfricacanbenet from smaller scale, co-hosted instrumentation through The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory business development to the employment it can create for (SARAO) has released a local impact study looking at people living in some of the most impoverished and rural thebenetsforlocalcommunitiesstemmingfrom geographicalareasinthecountry, explainedDrBonitade the hosting of the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Swardt, SARAO Programme Manager: Strategic Partnerships Array (HERA)* – an SKA precursor facility – in for Human Capital Development (HCD) and author of the country. the report.
On a national level, the impact study found growing participation of South African researchers in the HERA collaboration,mainlyasaresultofcontinuousnancial support towards further education. This support led to increased participation of researchers based at local The aim of the HERA impact study undertaken by SARAO universities in the collaboration, ensuring South Africa’s wastounderstandthedirectinvestmentandbenetsofcorepresentation in world-class research conducted with hosted radio astronomy infrastructure to the local economy this instrument. in South Africa, at both the national and provincial level. *HERA is an array of 350 antennas situated next to the MeerKAT Thereports ndingsindicatethatSouthAfricareceived radio telescope in the Northern Cape province. It is a US-led substantial direct foreign investment for construction of the project that forms part of a large international collaboration infrastructure to the sum of more than R41.5 million (€2.4m) representative of institutions from Europe, South Africa, the UK for the period 2013-2021, comprising R38 million from the and US. The goal of HERA is to observe how the first structures US and R3.5 million from the UK. South Africa contributed formed in the very early stages of the Universe, as the first stars over R32 million to HERA and associated activities in that and galaxies lit up space. The instrument is now undergoing period, including human capital development in the form of commissioning and validation of its data. postgraduate scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships. Most Construction of HERA began in 2015, with the full array reaching completion in 2021. SARAO managed the construction of the infrastructure in close collaboration with US institutions.
BELOW: Part of the team of local artisans from the town of Carnarvon who helped build the HERA telescope, situated next to MeerKAT in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Credit: Scott Dynes.
26
C O N TA C T
ISSUE
11