Southern African Large Telescope

Introduction

Presenters:Dr Matutu (Chief Director, Human Capital and Science Platforms), Department of Science and Technology

Dr Gatsha Mazithulela (Vice-President, National Research Facilities, National Research Foundation)

Professor Phil Charles (Director of the South African Astronomy Observatory) a national facility of the National Research Foundation

Introduction

• The National Research and Development Strategy (NRDS) identified astronomy as an area where South Africa has an obvious geographical advantage

• South Africa provides a geographical and climate advantage for global astronomy because of its clear, dark skies in areas of limited light and radio-frequency pollution

Introduction

• Astronomy facilities are best located in very low population density areas to minimise their impact on the community, and to reduce interference with telescope operations by human activities

• A parallel investment in infrastructure for capacity development and increasing technological competitiveness was motivated by the growth of these facilities

Introduction

• The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) near Sutherland in South Africa is the largest single optical-infrared telescope in the southern hemisphere

• The primary mirror measures 11 metres across (diameter) and is constructed from 91 hexagonal segments, each 1 metre in diameter

• The SALT can access approximately 70% of the sky observable from Sutherland

Introduction

•Part of the infrastructure investment is the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT)

– Hosted by the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Sutherland, in the Northern Cape Province

•There was no need to establish a new institution to accommodate the SALT as SAAO was already established under the NRF

Introduction

• The SALT is an outcome of multilateral partnership between o South Africa, o Germany, o New Zealand, o Poland, o the United Kingdom and o the United States. o India and the o American Museum of Natural History joined after SALT

construction was completed in 2005.

Infrastructure

• The bandwidth requirement was determined jointly by the researchers and the SANReN design team

• The connection will be provided by Telkom SA Ltd on a long-term lease for five years, after which the requirements will be reassessed. The link will be on existing Telkom optic fibre infrastructure

• The cost is within the budgeted amount of R10 million for the SALT connection

Infrastructure

• South Africa contributed a third of the total of $36 million to finance SALT for its first 10 years ($20 million for the telescope, $6 million for instruments, $10 million for operations)

• The South African National Research Network (SANReN) has commissioned Telkom to provide a 155 Mbps (Megabits per second) datalink from SALT to SAAO in Cape Town

• The datalink to SALT is within the current SANReN budget

Human Capital Development at SALT

• SALT is accessible to local and international scientists for research

• The DST funded Postgraduate students access SALT through the National Astrophysics and Space Programme (NASSP) and the Multi-wavelength (MWL) Astronomy programme

• SALT is a sophisticated computer-controlled precision instrument and truly a telescope of the internet era

Human Capital Development at SALT

• Astronomers submit their observing requests over the Internet and eventually receive their data by the same route without travelling to Sutherland

• The establishment of SALT and the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) in Namibia, together with the construction of the Karoo Array Telescope near Caernarvon, have made South Africa a strong contender to host the Square Kilometre Array Telescope

– This will benefit South Africa tremendously as international scientific and engineering minds are attracted to this world-class, multi-wavelength capability

SALT Social Impact

• SALT benefits South Africa and Africa in the provision and development of highly technical expertise in the study of the origins and history of the universe

• Astronomy will also provide us with a platform that generates scientific human capacity to drive new discoveries in physics, chemistry & biology, as has happened in developed countries.

• In addition SALT provides South Africa with a competitive advantage in Astronomy

• The SALT optical system development was a major South African achievement that was far superior to the American prototype, and a demonstration of South African ability to innovate in advanced optical technologies

Social Impact on the Sutherland Community

• Through the NRF, installation of Digital Doorways and a wireless mesh network will enable the Sutherland school and local community to access the SALT internet connection

• This will also provide a gateway to the wider internet network & hence allow the community & business access to the internet, & other web-based services

• This will also enable entrepreneurs to establish internet-based businesses

SALT: Current status

• 3 yrs commissioning, testing and analysing detailed performance (2006 -2008) revealed 2 serious problems:

– Image quality poor, suffered from a focus gradient

• Was due to misaligned optics in SAC (corrector)

• Badly designed mounting of SAC on Tracker– Main spectrograph had very poor sensitivity in

blue/UV• Manufacturing flaw found in lens coupling

fluid used

SALT: Current Status

• SALT/SAAO team has developed solutions to both:– SAC removed from SALT mid-April,

alignment and testing rig constructed at Sutherland, work underway, going well

– Spectrograph optics returned to California, now repaired, reassembled and blue performance vastly improved

• Repairs expected to complete before end 2009

SALT: Current status

From SAAO Director's report to SALT Board in New York, May 28:

“This is without doubt the most radical surgery and intervention that SALT has undergone since its completion. That it is taking place entirely in our own facilities in SL is a dramatic event worthy of note in its own right, as it takes SALT technical operations to a potentially new level. This brings the entire SALT opto-mechanics now within the capability of the Operations Team to be able to adjust, maintain and repair. This is a far better situation than thatenvisaged at the beginning of SALT operations, and bodes well for future developments and new instrumentation projects.”

Thank You