If extra-terrestrials ever arrived on earth (and that’s assuming they’re not here already) then they would most probably land on a triangle of Karoo between Williston, Carnarvon and Vanwyksvlei in the Northern Cape.  Well, it makes sense, doesn’t it? If you are a tourist visiting a strange place, you are most likely to go where you will be welcome.  And in the Northern Cape, ET and his friends will find themselves very much at home.

A huge swathe of the Northern Cape – 12,5 million hectares of it – has been declared by the government as a Radio Astronomy Reserve.  It is remote, sparsely populated, with very dry air, almost no cloud cover ever, and no stray light from any nearby cities.  In other words, astronomer heaven.  We will know by about this time next year if this Radio Astronomy Reserve will also be the home of the world’s most powerful radio telescope.  At the moment South Africa is bidding in competition with Australia to host this installation – a telescope that will be 50 times more sensitive than any other telescope on earth.  Assuming that South Africa wins the bid (and that seems very likely) this telescope will be under construction until 2025, it will cost €1,5 billion, and every star-gazer from every country on earth will make Williston and Carnavon their second home.
 
It will be called the Square Kilometre Array, and I have mentioned before that these astronomer chappies really should come up with snappier names.  After all, this is an interstellar scanner that will probe the edges of the universe, will search back in time to the beginning of the Big Bang, will peer into the heart of matter and energy, will answer fundamental questions about galaxies, stars and planets.  It’s spine-tingling stuff.  And they call it the Square Kilometre Array, forsooth.

In many ways, South Africa has the edge over Australia.  Our Northern Cape is remote and empty but there are good roads and nearby infrastructure.  Our air is much dryer, which helps with visibility.  We already have SALT – the Southern Africa Large Telescope (oh, those snappy names again!).  We are on the same time-zone as the EU scientific community.  It might not sound like earth-shaking stuff for those who are not interested in science, but getting the SKA will change the Northern Cape beyond imagining.

Already there is a lot to get excited about.  South Africa has just built the MeerKat telescope in the reserve as a pathfinder to the SKA.  It is already the most powerful telescope in the world, and its construction and operation are being used as a practice run for the Real Thing.   Scientists, mathematicians, astronomers and physicists are already descending on the Karoo and gossiping excitedly about quarks and quasars.  Nearby schools have been given souped-up education outreach programmes and bursaries to the tune of about R42 million to encourage youngsters to take an interest in science and astronomy. Special forums have been created to interact with local farmers and residents to make sure that all the surrounding people get the fullest benefit out of these great telescopes.  The idea is to turn the dusty Northern Cape into a world focus for learning and teaching about, well, about Life,  the Universe and Everything.  It’s the Hitchhiker’s Guide come to life.

And this is just the beginning.  If South Africa gets to build the Big One, the entire country’s Internet connection will get a boost as the telescope needs the world’s fastest computer and Internet capabilities.  It will mean an economic injection into the Northern Cape of about €200 million a year.  The Department of Science and Technology is pulling out all the stops to take this story to schools and science centres across the country, with displays, comics and a brilliant website (www.ska.ac.za)   The tourist potential will be enormous – not only will scientists and academics drift in and out on a regular basis but there is a huge support structure that will have to be housed – and of course there is potential for visitors to tour the facilities.
 
Just imagine – the impossibly flat Karoo at midnight, a landscape full of soaring satellite dishes silently waiting to receive the music of the universe….  The occasional faraway yip of a jackal, the call of a night-jar, the cool night air…. Above you an immense sheet of blazing stars stretching from horizon to horizon….  And the hum of all that busy machinery scanning the skies, a vast time machine peering into both the future and the past.

Our human story began, right here in South Africa, at the Cradle of Humankind.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we became the place that also told the story of everything else.