EVEN before confirmation that South Africa had won the majority vote to host the world's largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), more than a billion rand had already been allocated and some of it spent.
SKA South Africa's Professor Justin Jonas said on Sunday that R1.4bn had been set aside for the first phase of the project.
This has largely been allocated to the completion of the SA's own radio telescope, the MeerKAT, due to be completed by 2016. The MeerKAT will account for 10% of the work done to complete the SKA in 2024.
"The MeerKAT is what we call very, very nearly the SKA. It's very close to what SKA will be. We only have to build three-quarters of SKA," said Jonas. He said Australia had spent about A$220m (R1.8bn) on its own national telescope initiative.
On Friday, Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor announced SA had won the bid, along with its eight African counterparts. The international SKA organisation split the construction of the SKA in favour of South Africa, with two receivers awarded to the country and one to Australia.
Pandor lauded the win as a victory for South Africa, saying she was "ecstatic" as it was a victory for the scientists, engineers and for the continent. However, because of the split victory, South Africa may have to fork out unexpected money to fund the project.
This was because of the higher electricity prices in Australia in comparison to its joint Australia and New Zealand counterparts.
"The difference at the moment is that we are using Eskom (coal) power. In South Africa it's about 50KW/h. On the Australian-New Zealand side, it's diesel generators, at least five or six times more expensive," said Jonas.
However, Jonas said the international partners - the Netherlands, the UK, Italy, Canada and China - had committed to paying their share of the total costs. This amounted to about 10% divided between the countries alongside SA, New Zealand and Australia. The continent's partners would help in paying SA's costs.
Should more countries join the initiative to probe space, then the percentage would diminish, Jonas said. In the meantime, international organisations were pursuing funding. Germany had expressed interest but had not yet joined. Despite this, Jonas was hopeful that South Africa would be able to recoup some of the money it had already allocated to the MeerKAT from established international partners.
"They're going from national to international. We will have to negotiate. I understand there will be an inclined contribution to part of our contribution of R1.4bn," Jonas said.
Split victory means SA might pay more for SKA project
EVEN before confirmation that South Africa had won the majority vote to host the world's largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), more than a billion rand had already been allocated and some of it spent.
SKA South Africa's Professor Justin Jonas said on Sunday that R1.4bn had been set aside for the first phase of the project.
This has largely been allocated to the completion of the SA's own radio telescope, the MeerKAT, due to be completed by 2016. The MeerKAT will account for 10% of the work done to complete the SKA in 2024.
"The MeerKAT is what we call very, very nearly the SKA. It's very close to what SKA will be. We only have to build three-quarters of SKA," said Jonas. He said Australia had spent about A$220m (R1.8bn) on its own national telescope initiative.
On Friday, Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor announced SA had won the bid, along with its eight African counterparts. The international SKA organisation split the construction of the SKA in favour of South Africa, with two receivers awarded to the country and one to Australia.
Pandor lauded the win as a victory for South Africa, saying she was "ecstatic" as it was a victory for the scientists, engineers and for the continent. However, because of the split victory, South Africa may have to fork out unexpected money to fund the project.
This was because of the higher electricity prices in Australia in comparison to its joint Australia and New Zealand counterparts.
"The difference at the moment is that we are using Eskom (coal) power. In South Africa it's about 50KW/h. On the Australian-New Zealand side, it's diesel generators, at least five or six times more expensive," said Jonas.
However, Jonas said the international partners - the Netherlands, the UK, Italy, Canada and China - had committed to paying their share of the total costs. This amounted to about 10% divided between the countries alongside SA, New Zealand and Australia. The continent's partners would help in paying SA's costs.
Should more countries join the initiative to probe space, then the percentage would diminish, Jonas said. In the meantime, international organisations were pursuing funding. Germany had expressed interest but had not yet joined. Despite this, Jonas was hopeful that South Africa would be able to recoup some of the money it had already allocated to the MeerKAT from established international partners.
"They're going from national to international. We will have to negotiate. I understand there will be an inclined contribution to part of our contribution of R1.4bn," Jonas said.
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