South Africa seeks to be global hub for astronomy, says Science Minister

South Africa is seeking to become a global hub for astronomical facilities, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Dr Blade Nzimande told delegates to the XXXII General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), in his keynote address at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. For example, he cited South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope array and the now-under-construction international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescopes. These provided opportunities to South Africa to contribute to the global development of astronomy and Big Data processing. (South Africa is the host country for the SKA-Mid instrument, while Australia is the host for the SKA-Low instrument. The terms “Mid” and “Low” referred to the radio frequency ranges that the two complementary arrays will cover.)