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HESS, CTA, SKA/AVN
R. Steenkamp & M. Backes (& I.D. Davids)
Current projectsH.E.S.S. Phases I & II
– High Energy Stereoscopic System – fait accompli
SKA – Square Kilometre Array – will happen in Southern Africa – Namibia will have 4 satellite sites
H.E.S.S. (in operation)H.E.S.S. Phase I
1996 – Letter of Intent2000 – Construction starts2002 – Operations start2004 – Inauguration of full Phase I array (28 Spetember)2006 – Descartes prize, ranked 10th most influential
observatory in the world2010 – Rossi prize
H.E.S.S. Phase II2012 – Inauguration of Phase II (28 September)Largest Cherenkov telescope in the world
SKA (will happen)1991: Concept1993: International working group created2008: PrepSKA commences2012:
KAT-7 (7x12m) operational – science programme starts25 May – jointly awarded to Southern Africa & Australia
2015—2016: MeerKAT (64x13.5m) operational2016-2019: SKA Phase 1 construction2020: SKA Phase 1 complete (300 million Euro)2024: SKA Phase 2 complete (1.5 billion Euro)2022: SKA Phase 3 …
SKA in NamibiaNamibia has the most SKA satellite sites of
any of the participating countries other than South Africa
4 sites identified in radio quiet regions of Namibia
20—40 radio telescopes per siteConstruction will have to start in 2016
Site Longitude Latitude
Nam-0 18.648 -25.785
Nam-1 16.043 -22.183
Nam-2 17.800 -19.600
Nam-4 13.186 -23.271
Siting SKA
• H.E.S.S. (farm Goellschau)
• Identified SKA sites
Possible future projectsCTA South
– Cherenkov Telescope Array (Southern Hemisphere)
AVN– African VLBI Network (VLBI = Very Long Baseline Interferometry)
SKA IS COMING…
AVN a precursor to SKAAnalogous to other VLBI networks in the
world:EuropeanVLBI Network (EVN), Australia Telkescope
Long Baseline Array (AT-LBA), Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), etc
One 25—32 metre radio telescope needed per country
Conversion of existing redundant antennas:Ghana, Kenya, Zambia
Conversion/New Build?Madagascar
New Builds required (25 metre entry level):Mauritius, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique
New Build for Namibia?25—32 m
diameter25 m entry
into VLBI work
32 m optimal but expensive
Cost scales as (surface area)2.6
Namibian Radio Telescope siteEntry level 25 metre new buildSite at:
SKA Nam-1 (shared site development – AVN & SKA)H.E.S.S./Secondary CTA site (existing infrastructure to
be expanded – possible shared site development)Primary CTA site (shared site development – AVN &
CTA)
Infrastructure:10 Gb/s data linkBuried power feederWaterAccess road
Siting AVN
• H.E.S.S. (farm Goellschau)
• Identified SKA sites
• Proposed primary CTA site
(farm Aar)
• Possible Namibian AVN telescope site(s)???
CTA partners in Southern Africa
The CTA Consortion
>1050 academics spread over 27 countries!
CTA South – the Namibian bidCTA – North & South (200 million Euro)CTA North (2 types of telescopes – 19 in
total)4 LSTs, 15 MSTs (1 km2) (cost: 1/3 of total)Contenders: USA, Mexico, Canaries
CTA South (4 types of telescopes – 135 in total)4 LSTs, 25 MSTs, 70 SSTs, 36 SCTs (10 km2) (cost: 2/3 of
total)Contenders: Namibia, Argentina, Chile
Namibia proposed 2 sites:Primary: small plateau on Farm Aar near AusSecondary: HESS site on Farm Goellschau
Large Scale Telescopes23 m diameter400 m2 surface areaLowest energy
observations < 200 GeV
4 LSTs per site
Medium Scale Telescopes12 m diameter100 m2 surface areaMedium range
energy observations100 GeV – 10 TeV
25 MSTs on Southern site
16 MSTs in Northern site
4.3 m diameterHighers energy
observations> 10 TeV
70 SSTs on Southern site only
Medium Sized Dual-Mirror telescopes9.7 m diameter50 m2
Adding 36 SCTs contributed by USA to the CTA South to extend the MST array
Why Namibia for CTA South?• Offers some of the darkest
cloud-free skies with the least amount of light pollution in Southern Africa
• Established and sophisticated power & telecommunications infrastructure
• Established host for large science projects, e.g. H.E.S.S.
• Political stability• Multi-wavelength
opportunities & synergies with SKA, AVN & SALT
• If successful, Southern Africa will host the two most powerful telescopes of its kind in the world (CTA & SKA)
Site Requirements for CTA1 Gb/s data link (SEACOM+Xnet??)4 MW of power (NamPower)Water supply (Ministry of Works borehole)Access roadGood logistics10 km2 of rather flat surface > 1500 m a.s.l.Minimum cloud cover & dark skiesLow risk…
Siting CTA• H.E.S.S. (farm Goellschau)
• Identified SKA sites
• Proposed primary CTA site
(farm Aar)
• Proposed secondary CTA site
(farm Goellschau)
Best site in Namibia for CTA South
Aar
HESS
Capitalwith
Airport(40km)
Harbour(120km)
&
Airport(112km)
RailwayStation
Site Location
Aar (Aar-west)(16.4530ºE, -26.691ºS)(1633±13) m asl
Implantation of CTA array
Infrastructure (Electricity)
Electricity (Aar):• Two 132kV lines
passing the farm Aar.
• The closes substation just north of Aus, connecting it with a 33 kV line
• A new power line, from Aus to farm Aar would have to be built.
• Rough estimate: N$13 million
Infrastructure (Water)
Water:• Aar:
• Boreholes on Farm Kubub (35 m3/hour) sufficient water available• needs to be pumped up to the plateau & stored in reservoir
Quality of the Namibian Site(s)
CTA TimelineCTA-PP: 2010—2013 (FP7 funded - UNAM a
signatory)Deadline for input: 30June 2013Site visits by independent Site Selection
Committee (SSC): 19—28 August 2013Recommendations from SSC by Q4 2013Site Decision: 19/20 December 20132014/15: Negotiation & signature of detailed
site agreements2015/16: comencement of preparations &
constructionConstruction phase: 4—5 years after start
CTA Resource BoardMeeting attended by highest level official
possible in government/funding agencies of member counries…
Namibia & South Africa signatories of the CTA Declaration of Intent (DoI)
Argentinian delegation headed by a Deputy Minister of Science & Technology
South African delegation headed by Prof. Nithya Chetty, Group Executive: Astronomy at the NRF
Namibian delegation headed in the past by Mr Alfred van Kent, Director of the DRST at the MoE…
CTA-RB: Namibian DelegationThe Future delegation to the CTA Resource
Board should be either theCEO of the NCRST
orA Director/Deputy Director of the NCRST
tasked with Astronomy &/ Space Science
Capacity BuildingHow to get the maximum advantage for Namibia from H.E.S.S., SKA/AVN & CTA?
H.E.S.S. (historical analysis)H.E.S.S. was not sufficiently utilised for
capacity building. WHY?Lack of minimal resources to participate in H.E.S.S.Powers-that-be misunderstanding the nature of
international collaborationsLack of candidates to be trained
MSc entry level required – level problem No undergraduate scholarships
Lack of manpower within Namibia: Astrophysicists (to participate in science programmes) Engineers (to participate in instrument design &
development)Only one astrophysicist trained (Isak D. Davids)
Too few by an order of magnitude
A lesson from SA & SKAWhen SA started to bid for SKA, it had only 3
radio astronomers and no radio telescope engineers
NRF – created undergraduate and graduate scholarships forEngineers specialising in radio telescope
technologyRadio astronomers
Started to develop technology forKAT-7 MeerKAT SKA at engineering level
Manpower was developed for a successful SKA bid
SUCCESS!!!
Roadmap for Namibia ICreate few undergraduate (& graduate)
scholarships ASAP for Instrument scientists & radio telescope engineersAstrophysicists (Radio – & High Energy –)
Create two fully resourced NRF-like research chairs around which a centre of excellence can be established in the fields ofRadio AstronomyHigh Energy Astrophysics
Create a Astronomy/Space Science Group/Division in the NCRST to help spearhead efforts
Roadmap for Namibia IISet up post-doctoral programme to attract
young researchers from abroad to help establish research groups
Help facilitate the construction of a radio telescope for the Namibian AVN telescope
Utilise standing agreements to train students in specialised courses in SA (HartRAO, NASSP) to have Namibians available to run the SKA satellite stations and participate in SKA/AVN science
Become actively involved in technology design & creation
Summary & ConclusionNamibia (and Southern Africa) is now for the
very first time in a position to take advantage of BIG SCIENCE:SKA will be the largest telescope system ever
built and one of the biggest science projects in history. (1.5 billion Euro ~ 18 billion NAD/ZAR project)
CTA will be the largest gamma-ray observatory in the world (200 million Euro ~ 2.4 billion NAD/ZAR project)
SKA/AVN & CTA present unique opportunities that must be taken advantage of and exploited for the benefit of Namibia