Radio astronomy in Africa: Opportunities for cooperation with Europe within the context of the African-European Radio Astronomy Platform (AERAP)

Transcription

1 Radio astronomy in Africa: Opportunities for cooperation with Europe within the context of the African-European Radio Astronomy Platform (AERAP)

2 Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Global mega-science project World s largest telescope - 50 times more sensitive Nobel Prize science Dark energy and dark matter; Gravitational waves; Protoplanets Proposed construction cost 1.5 billion Operations and maintenance estimated million per year for 50 years Operational < 2024 Build in phases Use existing infrastructure, especially in the core (first 180km) Co-located in Africa and Australia

3 History of the Universe

4 SKA dishes in the Core 4

5 Dishes of the MeerKAT Precursor KAT 7

6 Square Kilometre Array Technology Uses 100MW and >100Tb/s Pushes all technology to the limits Thousands of antennas combined 1million sq m collecting area SKA central computer has the processing power of about 1 billion PCs - 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 operations per sec exaflops (10E18) Enough optical fibre to wrap twice around the Earth SKA dishes will produce 10 times the global internet traffic SKA aperture arrays produce 100 times the global internet traffic Enough raw data to fill 15 million 64 GB ipods every day Sensitive enough to detect an airport radar on a planet 50 light years away

7 The African VLBI Network Convert existing communications antennas into radio astronomy facilities. Maintain existing staff. Install new receivers and instrumentation. Create a VLBI array that will link with Europe, the USA and Australasia. 7

8 European + African VLBI Network 8

9 But why should Africa pioritise Radio Astronomy? Astronomy has great public appeal - Radio astronomy has historically led to major technology spin-offs especially in ICT Mega-projects (e.g. science research infrastructures) can be uniquely productive: Radio astronomy projects in Africa Raise profile, raise money and drag unrelated development along Profile science and engineering as key development issues Attract young people into SET training and careers especially ICT Strengthen universities and teaching Develop high level technical and scientific capacity for innovation Develop high level problem technical and problem-solving skills to strengthen administration and governance

10 International Industry Collaboration Close collaboration with Nokia Siemens Networks Mutual benefit R&D agreements with IBM, Intel; pending with Oracle And others Partnerships for pre-competitive research benefit us all Success story: ROACH correlator

11 Driving human capital development Research chairs Visiting / joint professorships University grants support or lecturers Postdoctoral fellowships Postgraduate bursaries Undergraduate bursaries Internships Technician training national diplomas at universities of technology Artisan training Youth and science Development of astrophysics and related engineering in Africa partner states Mobility grants A focused and structured programme with a pipeline strategy

12 The South African SKA Project Human Capital Development Programme Intake by academic year Total

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14 African partners now teaching astronomy Name Current level of teaching Status Kenya Undergraduate Honours Mozambique Undergraduate Honours Mauritius Postgraduate MSc Madagascar Postgraduate MSc Zambia Undergrad In process Botswana Undergrad In process Ghana Undergrad In process

15 Opportunities for African- European Cooperation Especially within AERAP context Research collaboration Researcher training and mobility programmes Research infrastructure partnerships, e.g. VLBI Leverage non-science benefits of radio astronomy industry cooperation Share experience outreach and education programmes

16 The African-European Radio Astronomy Platform Objectives Develop and update agendas for radio astronomy cooperation Strengthen research and innovation in Europe and Africa Improve knowledge transfer Stimulate competitiveness across both continents Utilise EU-Africa collaboration in radio astronomy as a platform for broader global partnerships Bring together key players from private, public and research sectors

17 The African-European Radio Astronomy Platform Activities AERAP Helpdesk Workshops: Date Event 29 May 2012 Workshop on Leveraging New Funding Opportunities for African-European Radio Astronomy Partnerships 6 September 2012 Workshop on Human Capital Development Researcher Mobility and Training Programmes 27 September Workshop on Human Capital Development in 2012 Pretoria, South Africa 9 October 2012 Workshop on Renewable Energy Solutions for Radio Astronomy 14 November Workshop on Infrastructure Investment and 2012 Technology Development including Scientific Instrumentation for Radio Astronomy 6 and 7 March 2013 Workshop to discuss the Draft AERAP Framework Programme for Cooperation

18 The African-European Radio Astronomy Platform Participants ASTRON (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy) European Industrial Engineering SRL, Italy Ghana Space Science and Technology Centre, Ghana Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd., United Kingdom IBM INAF Institute for Radio Astronomy, Italy Institute for Astrophysics Andalucia Institute for Telecommunications, Portugal JIVE - Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe Leiden Observatory, Netherlands Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Germany Nokia Siemens Networks NOW (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) Omnisys Instruments, Sweden Onsala Space Observatory, Sweden Rhodes University, South Africa Science & Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom SKA South Africa SKA Organisation University of Cambridge, United Kingdom University of Leeds, United Kingdom University of Oxford, United Kingdom University of Porto, Portugal University of Zambia

19 AERAP Framework Programme for Cooperation gbv Purpose and Evolution Thematic priorities: Research Infrastructures Instrumentation Research and Development Support for Global Projects Human Capital Development ICT and Big Data Renewable Energy Astronomy as a Tool for Science Education Public Outreach

20 The African-European Radio Astronomy Platform Implementation Date 18 June 2013 Action Presentation of the AERAP Framework Programme for Cooperation to Members of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium 18/19 June st Implementation Workshop in Brussels, Belgium 17 July 2013 Autumn nd Implementation Workshop in Cape Town, South Africa 3 rd Implementation Workshop in Brussels bringing together the African and European radio astronomy community

21 Thank you for your attention! Further information on AERAP: Contact: