{"id":865282,"date":"2026-07-05T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=865282"},"modified":"2026-07-03T16:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:42:16","slug":"the-142-year-old-small-karoo-town-part-of-nasas-space-missions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/865282\/the-142-year-old-small-karoo-town-part-of-nasas-space-missions\/","title":{"rendered":"The 142-year-old small Karoo town part of NASA’s space missions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The small, quaint town of Matjiesfontein in South Africa is part of a larger mission, serving as a ground station that assists the United States with its missions to the moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matjiesfontein, located just outside Cape Town, is set to become home to a new deep-space complex for the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), focused on deep-space exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis site will function as an extension of the renowned Hartebeesthoek facility, celebrated for its world-class services in telemetry, tracking, and command operations,\u201d SANSA said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMatjiesfontein (MTJ) will be equipped with sophisticated technology designed for communication with satellites, probes, rockets, and terrestrial planets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SANSA said the site is part of NASA’s Lunar Exploration Ground Segment (LEGS), which comprises three locations in the United States, South Africa, and Australia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SANSA has played an important role in supporting NASA’s Artemis II mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking with Cape Talk<\/a>, SANSA’s chief engineer for space operations, Eugene Avenant, highlighted that the agency played a crucial role in tracking the spacecraft and assisting with the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSANSA has been tracking the spacecraft, especially in its closer-to-Earth spheres. What is needed for this mission is very accurate orbital information,\u201d Avenant said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avenant said that this includes knowing the spacecraft’s exact trajectory, which is crucial for ensuring the safe return of astronauts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBasically, on the outward journey, making sure that the trans-lunar injection burn was correct to ensure that it takes the free-return orbit around the Moon,\u201d Avenant said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avenant explained that this is accomplished by measuring return signals, specifically the Doppler Shift, which he referred to as a one-way Doppler effect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also mentioned that South Africa was included in the initial planning stages of the Artemis missions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next flight in the program, Artemis III, is scheduled to be the first lunar landing in over 50 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSouth Africa was set to use its new ground station under construction in Matjiesfontein to also provide critical services to that mission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe firmly believe that we will still be supporting the NASA Artemis programme going forward from our new ground station at Matjiesfontein.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 142-year-old Matjiesfontein<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Matjiesfontein was founded in 1884 by a Scottish railwayman named James Douglas Logan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The village quickly established itself as a fashionable Victorian health spa and is now well known for its historic buildings and tranquil atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matjiesfontein’s history includes notable events such as the residence of international cricketers and the stay of author Olive Schreiner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The town also served as a fortification during the South African War as the headquarters of the Cape Command, and as a refuge for reformers from the Jameson Raid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Logan built the Milner Hotel in 1899 during the early stages of the South African War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hotel served as a military hospital during the conflict with British forces, with its central turret functioning as a lookout and machine gun post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1968, hotelier David Rawdon purchased Matjiesfontein Village. After a period of renovation, David reopened the hotel in 1970, renaming it The Lord Milner Hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also established several other hotels, including Rawdons Hotel at Nottingham Road, Lanzerac in the Stellenbosch vineyards, the Marine Hotel in Hermanus, and The Drostdy in Graaff-Reinet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After David\u2019s death in 2010, the Rawdon family, as custodians of Matjiesfontein, has continued his legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jon and Tom Rawdon, under the oversight and guidance of David\u2019s brother Bengy, have managed renovations and expansions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their renovations include the recent refurbishment of Tweedside Lodge, Logan\u2019s original homestead, which has been transformed into guest accommodation.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The small, quaint town of Matjiesfontein in South Africa assists the United States with its missions to the moon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":865297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[25713,25714],"class_list":["post-865282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-matjiesfontein","tag-the-south-african-national-space-agency-sansa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865282"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":865470,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865282\/revisions\/865470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}