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 oSouth Africa, oGermany, oNew Zealand, oPoland, othe United Kingdom and othe United States. oIndia and the oAmerican 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 ( ) 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 that envisaged at the beginning of SALT operations, and bodes well for future developments and new instrumentation projects.”

Thank You