Issued by Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
25 November 1999
Pretoria - Africa will soon have its own giant eye to the Universe. Dr Ben Ngubane, Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology today (25 November 1999) gave the "green light" for the construction of SALT - the Southern African Large Telescope.
The decision to give the go ahead was backed by the signing of the Science and Technology Agreement and Protocol between Poland and South Africa by Dr Ngubane and his Polish counterpart, Professor Wiszniewski, today.
Poland's contribution to SALT is more than R15 million. Dr Ngubane confirmed that we have reached the stage where international partners have committed R45 million in cash to the original R25 million value of the plans of the telescope. The South African Government, in turn, has committed R50 million, enabling the development of the telescope over the next five years.
"SALT will enable South Africa to remain internationally competitive in astronomy well into the 21st century. The telescope will be used to study stars and galaxies: from observing some of the most distant galaxies and the early evolution of our Universe, to searching for planets around neighbouring stars," said Dr Ngubane. SALT will be the single largest telescope for optical/infrared astronomy in the Southern Hemisphere.
This "green light" is a major milestone in the development of SALT - the project team can now be recruited and the construction of the telescope and facility started. Construction is expected to take five years. The telescope itself will be sited under the clear, dark skies of the Karoo at Sutherland in the Northern Cape, the out-station of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). The SAAO is a national research facility operated by the National Research Foundation (NRF).
SALT will be based on a similar telescope recently completed in the Northern Hemisphere, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory in Texas. The project sends a strong signal to the international community of the importance that South Africa places on fundamental science. SALT and its associated science education visitor centre will also excite many of the youth in South Africa to become interested in careers in science and technology.
The Signing of an intergovernmental Agreement on Scientific and Technological Co-operation and an Executive Programme of Co-operation for the Year 2000 between Poland and South Africa will have many benefits for South Africa in addition to its implications for SALT.
Since 1998, the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research and the Branch: Science and Technology of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology collaborated in exploring the potential for co-operation in the fields of science and technology.
An Agreement on Scientific and Technological Co-operation was drafted and finalised through negotiations between the two Parties. This Agreement was approved by the relevant authorities of the two countries and signed by Dr Ben Ngubane and Professor Andrzej Wiszniewski today in Pretoria.
In addition to this, the first meeting of the South Africa-Poland Joint Commission on Science and Technology took place and an Executive Programme of Co-operation for the Year 2000 was discussed, finalised and signed by the two Ministers.
The co-operative science and technology projects and programmes will, inter alia, aim at facilitating competitiveness in the global market and at supporting sustainable development in order to promote the quality of life of the people of South Africa and Poland. With this objective in mind special attention is to be given to the commercialisation and industrialisation of the results of co-operative S&T projects and programmes.
The next meeting of the Joint Commission is to be held in Poland, probably towards the end of the year 2000.