A South African company has been awarded the contract to build 64 antennas for the new MeerKAT radio telescope, the Cape Argus reported on Friday.<\/p>\n
Although they were being designed in Germany and the United States, South Africa owned all related intellectual property rights.<\/p>\n
The MeerKAT is the precursor instrument for the giant Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope.<\/p>\n
South Africa and its eight African partners had won the right to host more than 70 percent of the project.<\/p>\n
The telescope site is near Carnarvon in the Great Karoo.<\/p>\n
According to the report, two contracts due to be awarded before the end of March were for the antennas’ foundations, or radio signal receiving dishes, and a site security contract.<\/p>\n
Another contract to install 200km of optical fibre cabling on-site would likely be awarded during the second quarter of the year.<\/p>\n
$1.35bn \u2018eye in the sky\u2019 a step closer<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n SKA: explore the dark secrets of the universe<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n