Final countdown

Some may regard this as the wrong area on which to focus - especially since, on the ground, our nation deals with serious social maladies that at times seem as vast as the universe itself.

But, in defending one of the most decisive initiatives in his ministerial term of office, Science and Technology Minister Mosibudi Mangena vehemently advocates the exact opposite. He argues that focusing through telescopes is a very real way for the country to address some of its problems. But South Africa would not be the first African nation to develop a coordinated space programme, as renowned space expert and SunSpace director Prof. Sias Mostert explains.

"Nigeria has already invested more than $250 million in their space programme, and Egypt, Morocco and Algeria all have their own satellites."

Mangena plans to send South Africa`s second satellite SumbandilaSat into orbit in June, get the Space Agency up and running by November, and beat Australia in the multibillion-rand Square Kilometer Array (SKA) telescope bid over the coming years, among various other space-related plans. "Space exploration is one of the greatest intellectual challenges for humankind - and we`re truly excited that South Africa is joining the ranks of the developing countries producing state-of-the-art high-technology products," said Mangena at a recent conference.

INSPIRATION FROM ABOVE

Aside from the obvious scientific research benefits, the minister states that satellites can be useful in mapping urban and rural settlement patterns and tracking changes, responding quickly to natural disasters, and efficiently provisioning food and basic services in rural areas. "The space sector has the potential to make a meaningful contribution in addressing the most critical economic, social and technological challenges of the future," he maintains.

The R26 million microsatellite SumbandilaSat (South Africa`s second satellite) was handed over to the science and technology department (DST) in December, and will be launched towards the end of June. And in November, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will take over the chairmanship of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites.

"Most people are fascinated and in fact inspired by the prospect of getting closer to space," says Prof. Mostert. "The difficulty is making sense of it from a budgetary point of view, or translating the perceived pride and inspiration value into rands and cents. That is where a space programme that focuses on tangible benefits for the whole community makes sense."

He believes South Africa`s programme will do just this.

"Space technology provides information that is crucial to sustainable development - such as navigation information for travelling, weather information for agriculture and tourism and other economic sectors, decision making information used for urban development and the provisioning of basic services."

SQUARE KILOMETRE ARRAY

"Space [projects and investment] as applied for improving economic growth and the quality of life is not a luxury, but a necessity for a developing country such as ours. The space technology that looks at the Earth and its near environment is crucial to the well-being of each and everyone in South Africa," says Mostert.

It would appear that the scale of the Space Agency could well be contingent upon whether or not South Africa wins the contract to host the SKA telescope - a massive, multibillion-rand and multi-country satellite research facility planned for the end of the decade.

After a lengthy process of evaluation, the SKA project managers have whittled down the possible locations (for what will be the world`s biggest telescope) to remote regions in Australia and South Africa (Northern Cape), after other shortlisted bids from China, Brazil and Argentina were recently ruled out.

SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT

GM of Space Science and Technology at the DST, Pontsho Maruping, tells iWeek that the SumbandilaSat is an Earth observation satellite system, with its main "payload" being a remote sensing camera.

"It will support decision-making in natural resource management and sustainable development, agriculture, security, and urban planning for instance."

SumbandilaSat`s satellite imagery can, she says, be used in various applications which have direct benefits to societies, such as disaster management, crop yield estimation, disease outbreak predictions, and water resource management.

A secondary use of the satellite will be a limited telecommunication system, funded by the Department of Communications, helping to connect some of South Africa`s rural communities. Details on this are sketchy.

"Added to this, the scientific community will be presented with exciting results in low-frequency radio waves, radiation, software defined radio, forced vibrating string and radio amateur transponder," she notes.

"There are so many aspects of life in Southern Africa where monitoring from space can be useful - such as tracking changes in the oceans and the climate, and with issues related to natural fires and agriculture," comments Prof. Phil Charles - a director of the South African Astronomical Observatory.

"You get a uniform view from space that can be extremely powerful," he explains.

With South Africa about to launch SumbandilaSat, Charles sees the Space Agency as vitally important in bringing together the important initiatives.

But at the same time, we should also be using our space initiatives to play a part in other nations` space experiments, he says.

Critical to the success of the space programme "will be our ability to handle and process the data that we are carrying down from the satellites", he points out.

HAVE SKILLS, WILL TRAVEL

On the topic of skills, iWeek asked the DST how it expects to find the necessary skilled people to establish the space programme, given the much-publicised shortage of talent in the information technology sector. Maruping says there is significant investment in tertiary education. "SumbandilaSat is part of a three-year, integrated capacity development in space science and engineering programme, which has already hosted nine science and engineering graduate interns and will fund a further 18 postgraduate students and four post-doctoral researchers."

The DST (through the National Research Foundation) funded the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme, she adds. This postgraduate programme in astrophysics and astronomy was hosted by the University of Cape Town for five years and has produced more than 50 honours and masters graduates between 2003 and 2005.

And, in another National Research Foundation initiative, the DST is in the process of implementing a Space Science and Technology apprenticeship programme.

"The aim is to give engineering graduates the opportunity to acquire skills and get valuable work experience in space science, engineering and technology through mentorship. This will be a partnership programme between government, science councils and industry," notes Maruping.

The number of jobs created by the various projects that will form South Africa`s space programme will depend on the investments that are made, Maruping adds.

Mostert comments that, "in terms of space engineering, there is quite a formidable pool of trained manpower as a result of more than fifteen years of investment in training satellite engineers".

"However, in terms of role models for aspiring young black scientists and engineers, there is a great need,` he says, adding that scientists specialising in using geospatial information, modelling natural processes and deriving relevant indicators, and conducting remote sensing on a large scale, are also in short supply.