SKA: to the sky and back

SKA is a cool initialism for the ‘Square Kilometre Array’ consisting of thousands of small antennae that simulate a single telescope. It is to be built in the Southern Hemisphere (under the auspices of 20 countries) because the Southern Hemisphere provides the best view of our galaxy with the least radio interference. Spread over an area of one square kilometer and coupled with its diverse frequency allocation, it will be significantly more sensitive than any existing radio instrument with the capacity to survey the sky 10,000 times faster than before. Basically the SKA will answer a plethora of questions related to cosmology and astrophysics. Rwanda being far away from deep-space ambitions, I should make my intentions for writing this piece clear: South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are all currently bidding to inherit this project with the winning contender to be announced this year. Let it be no secret, I am crossing my fingers for South Africa as this would single-handedly be the biggest science-based capital injection the continent will have ever seen (I am jealous, however, of the $150 million per year in O&M). I know Rwanda may never catch a whiff of the jobs, training and advancements in aerospace that come with this project but looking at the big picture, this is phenomenal for Africa. Naturally questions arise, such as whether the number of skilled, trained scientists required to run a project of that magnitude exist in South Africa at this time. That is yet to be determined but given the scourge of brain drain in Africa, a project this size is an opportunity to draw the Diaspora back to the continent. This might sound far-fetched but I believe when one flagship project proves successful, we will see many more science projects find their home in Africa. The opportunity to see a window to push beyond being the ‘adaptors’ – and hardly ever the ‘innovators’ – is priceless as well: nothing to make us shoot for the stars than a giant telescope pointing at the stars! Zooming in on Rwanda... As a country engaging heavily in high technology investment and looking to expand research and development, we have a lot to learn from South Africa. I know they have not won the bid yet and I am also aware that we are not exactly blessed with rolling lands free of radio interference and a perfect vantage point to observe astronomical ‘objects’ that pass right overhead (as Sutherland in South Africa does) but it’s time to start thinking: do we have the skills to compete on the international scientific playfield? If ever there were a day we were offered $2 billion to make use of say, Mt. Kalisimbi, would we be up for it? I think I know the answer but it doesn’t hurt to shoot for those proverbial stars!In the Sky last week:On Friday Mercury reached the point in its orbit when it lies closest to the Sun: this is called perihelion. On Saturday, Mars reached what is called ‘opposition’: the point in its orbit when (as seen here on Earth) it lies opposite to the Sun. That day Mars peaked in visibility but was its smallest opposition size until 2027: it will also shine 5 times brighter than it did today on July 31, 2018.