"It is going to be absolutely tragic if all we do is to build up the infrastructure and we don't have sufficient African scientists to utilise the excellent facilities"
AFRICAN countries need more scientists to be involved in research for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope to succeed, an official said in Pretoria.
Head of astronomy at the National Research Foundation, Nithaya Chetty, said it was time for the continent to invest in human capacity development.
"It is going to be absolutely tragic if all we do is to build up the infrastructure and we don't have sufficient African scientists to utilise the excellent facilities," Chetty said.
"Remember, the SKA is not a South Africa project but an African one. The plan is to develop radio astronomy into the rest of Africa. We will be building telescopes in other African countries including Namibia, Botswana, Kenya, Zambia and Ghana," he said
The central part of the telescope would be in the Karoo region of Northern Cape province.
The other segment of the SKA would be built in Australia and New Zealand.
Chetty said there were numerous outreach programmes under way to attract new astronomers and develop existing human capacity.
The SKA is expected to be completed in 2024.
Africa needs more scientists for SKA project
"It is going to be absolutely tragic if all we do is to build up the infrastructure and we don't have sufficient African scientists to utilise the excellent facilities"
AFRICAN countries need more scientists to be involved in research for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope to succeed, an official said in Pretoria.
Head of astronomy at the National Research Foundation, Nithaya Chetty, said it was time for the continent to invest in human capacity development.
"It is going to be absolutely tragic if all we do is to build up the infrastructure and we don't have sufficient African scientists to utilise the excellent facilities," Chetty said.
"Remember, the SKA is not a South Africa project but an African one. The plan is to develop radio astronomy into the rest of Africa. We will be building telescopes in other African countries including Namibia, Botswana, Kenya, Zambia and Ghana," he said
The central part of the telescope would be in the Karoo region of Northern Cape province.
The other segment of the SKA would be built in Australia and New Zealand.
Chetty said there were numerous outreach programmes under way to attract new astronomers and develop existing human capacity.
The SKA is expected to be completed in 2024.
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