The National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) have been working towards the consolidation of South Africa’s radio astronomy facilities.

The Minister of Science and Technology, the Honourable Naledi Pandor MP, has therefore gazetted the establishment of the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) as a National Research Facility.

SARAO is a National Facility managed by the National Research Foundation and incorporates radio astronomy instruments and programmes such as the MeerKAT and KAT-7 telescopes in the Karoo, the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) in the North West province, the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry (AVN) programme in nine African countries as well as the associated human capital development and commercialisation endeavours.

This is an exciting time for radio astronomy in Africa.