The Max Planck Society (MPG) and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) have made R150-million (€11-million) available to build and install radio receivers on the South African MeerKAT radio telescope.
The receivers will be built by the MPIfR and will operate in the S band of radio frequencies. They will be used primarily for research on pulsars, the rapid spinning neutron stars that emit very regular radio pulses and so can be used as highly accurate clocks to test extreme physics.
Two other sets of receivers, for the L band and ULF band of frequencies, are already under construction in South Africa.
Martin Stratmann, president of the MPG, comments: “We consider MeerKAT to be an important undertaking as it is not only a pre-eminent astronomy project but also a lighthouse project for science in Africa in general. The MPG is very pleased to enable close collaboration between its scientists and the South Africa community and looks forward to seeing MeerKAT’s first glimpse of the universe with receivers of the MPIfR.”
Naldei Pandor, Minister of Science and Technology, says the investment is an endorsement of the excellence of the MeerKAT project and the South African team which is designing and building it.
MeerKAT will be the most sensitive cm wave radio telescope in the world until the SKA (Square Kilometre Array) is built. It is expected to do transformational science on pulsars and other areas of astronomy.