Seven Ghanaians arrived in South Africa earlier this month to begin training on the independent operation and maintenance of radio telescopes in Africa.
Using a miniature version of a radio telecsope, they will learn how to design, build, operate and maintain an African telescope network that will support the scientific and technical activities of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
According to Joyce Koranteng-Acquah, a research scientist at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, the SKA is set to improve the lives of the average Ghanaian through the provision of jobs, infrastructure and tourism. Koranteng-Acquah has just arrived in South Africa for SKA-related training, which she hopes will equip her with the skills she needs eventually to help coordinate the Ghana Radio Astronomy Project.
Koranteng-Acquah, along with Emmanuel Mornoh, Severin Azakpo, Theophilus Ansahnarh, Felix Madjitey, Emmanuel Adzri and Joseph Nsor, make up the first technical team from Africa to receive training as part of the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network (AVN) programme.
The aim of the programme is to create a network of radio telescopes among SKA South Africa's African partner countries: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia.
New generation of African scientists, engineers
"The training programme marks the start of a programme to strengthen African technical capability," Deputy Science and Technology Minister Michael Masutha said on Friday. "Involving the African partner countries in the AVN training programme is a means of ensuring that Africa is capacitated and ready for hosting the SKA."
The Deputy Minister was speaking ahead of the programme's launch at the MeerKAT headquarters in Pinelands, Cape Town.
Masutha said the training project would establish strong collaborative Africa-Europe networks in science and engineering and would deliver practical training and hands-on experiences that would enthuse a new generation of scientists and engineers on the continent.
Bringing home the basics
