MeerKAT / KAT Telescope / MPA Radio Telescope

Construction of the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT). This will eventually form part of the SKA project bid. The MeerKAT will be an array made up of 64 dishes, each 15m in diameter, spread out over a kilometer in the Karoo, approximately 80km north of Carnarvon, in the Northern Cape. This is the prototype of the large SKA which is planned. The SKA, if it is built in Southern Africa, will have its core in the Northern Cape and stations in Botswana, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Kenya and Ghana. The design of phase one of the SKA will start from about 2012, using lessons gained from both MeerKAT and Askap. Construction of the first phase of the SKA is earmarked for 2016, with completion in 2021. (WHY MeerKAT? The telescope was originally known as the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT) that would consist of 20 receptors. When the South African government increased the budget to allow the building of 64 receptors, the team re-named it “MeerKAT” – ie “more of KAT”. The MeerKAT (scientific name Suricata suricatta) is also a much-beloved small mammal that lives in the Karoo region.)