28 February 2015
Deputy President Cyril
Ramaphosa is today embarking on a visit to the Square Kilometre Array site in
the Northern Cape.
His visit will showcase the
MeerKAT as the world’s biggest and most sensitive radio telescopes.
The SKA will be able to probe
the edges of the universe and be able to answer key questions about the laws of
nature and physics.
Deputy President’s Spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa
said Deputy President Ramaphosa will be
supported by Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor, Northern Cape
Premier Sylvia Lucas and other Ministers of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating
Commission.
Mamoepa said South
Africa is currently building the 64-dish MeerKAT.
Mamoepa said upon
completion in 2017, the MeerKAT will be the largest radio telescope in the
world and most sensitive radio telescope of its kind.
Mamoepa said the
first dishes of the MeerKAT telescope have been erected in the Karoo and are
performing to specification.
“It is expected to
bring more than R30 billion into the country, which will benefit ordinary
people, particularly in one of South Africa's most rural and underdeveloped
provinces” Mamoepa added.