SKA mega-project boosts astronomy research and skills

By Munyaradzi Makoni. The advanced technological skills required to run the Square Kilometre Array, or SKA – a mega-research project due to become fully operational in 2020 in South Africa and eight other African countries – are scarce in Africa. But efforts to rectify that are gathering momentum.
The SKA is a €1.5 billion (US$1.9 billion) collaboration between South Africa and Australia to build the world’s largest radio telescope, with a square kilometre of collecting area. Read more...