high energy stereoscopic system in namibia by dr r. steenkamp & dr m. backes

HESS, CTA, SKA/AVN

R. Steenkamp & M. Backes (& I.D. Davids)

Current projectsH.E.S.S. Phases I & II

– High Energy Stereoscopic System – fait accompli

SKA – Square Kilometre Array – will happen in Southern Africa – Namibia will have 4 satellite sites

H.E.S.S. (in operation)H.E.S.S. Phase I

1996 – Letter of Intent2000 – Construction starts2002 – Operations start2004 – Inauguration of full Phase I array (28 Spetember)2006 – Descartes prize, ranked 10th most influential

observatory in the world2010 – Rossi prize

H.E.S.S. Phase II2012 – Inauguration of Phase II (28 September)Largest Cherenkov telescope in the world

SKA (will happen)1991: Concept1993: International working group created2008: PrepSKA commences2012:

KAT-7 (7x12m) operational – science programme starts25 May – jointly awarded to Southern Africa & Australia

2015—2016: MeerKAT (64x13.5m) operational2016-2019: SKA Phase 1 construction2020: SKA Phase 1 complete (300 million Euro)2024: SKA Phase 2 complete (1.5 billion Euro)2022: SKA Phase 3 …

SKA in NamibiaNamibia has the most SKA satellite sites of

any of the participating countries other than South Africa

4 sites identified in radio quiet regions of Namibia

20—40 radio telescopes per siteConstruction will have to start in 2016

Site Longitude Latitude

Nam-0 18.648 -25.785

Nam-1 16.043 -22.183

Nam-2 17.800 -19.600

Nam-4 13.186 -23.271

Siting SKA

• H.E.S.S. (farm Goellschau)

• Identified SKA sites

Possible future projectsCTA South

– Cherenkov Telescope Array (Southern Hemisphere)

AVN– African VLBI Network (VLBI = Very Long Baseline Interferometry)

SKA IS COMING…

AVN a precursor to SKAAnalogous to other VLBI networks in the

world:EuropeanVLBI Network (EVN), Australia Telkescope

Long Baseline Array (AT-LBA), Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), etc

One 25—32 metre radio telescope needed per country

Conversion of existing redundant antennas:Ghana, Kenya, Zambia

Conversion/New Build?Madagascar

New Builds required (25 metre entry level):Mauritius, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique

New Build for Namibia?25—32 m

diameter25 m entry

into VLBI work

32 m optimal but expensive

Cost scales as (surface area)2.6

Namibian Radio Telescope siteEntry level 25 metre new buildSite at:

SKA Nam-1 (shared site development – AVN & SKA)H.E.S.S./Secondary CTA site (existing infrastructure to

be expanded – possible shared site development)Primary CTA site (shared site development – AVN &

CTA)

Infrastructure:10 Gb/s data linkBuried power feederWaterAccess road

Siting AVN

• H.E.S.S. (farm Goellschau)

• Identified SKA sites

• Proposed primary CTA site

(farm Aar)

• Possible Namibian AVN telescope site(s)???

CTA partners in Southern Africa

The CTA Consortion

>1050 academics spread over 27 countries!

CTA South – the Namibian bidCTA – North & South (200 million Euro)CTA North (2 types of telescopes – 19 in

total)4 LSTs, 15 MSTs (1 km2) (cost: 1/3 of total)Contenders: USA, Mexico, Canaries

CTA South (4 types of telescopes – 135 in total)4 LSTs, 25 MSTs, 70 SSTs, 36 SCTs (10 km2) (cost: 2/3 of

total)Contenders: Namibia, Argentina, Chile

Namibia proposed 2 sites:Primary: small plateau on Farm Aar near AusSecondary: HESS site on Farm Goellschau

Large Scale Telescopes23 m diameter400 m2 surface areaLowest energy

observations < 200 GeV

4 LSTs per site

Medium Scale Telescopes12 m diameter100 m2 surface areaMedium range

energy observations100 GeV – 10 TeV

25 MSTs on Southern site

16 MSTs in Northern site

4.3 m diameterHighers energy

observations> 10 TeV

70 SSTs on Southern site only

Medium Sized Dual-Mirror telescopes9.7 m diameter50 m2

Adding 36 SCTs contributed by USA to the CTA South to extend the MST array

Why Namibia for CTA South?• Offers some of the darkest

cloud-free skies with the least amount of light pollution in Southern Africa

• Established and sophisticated power & telecommunications infrastructure

• Established host for large science projects, e.g. H.E.S.S.

• Political stability• Multi-wavelength

opportunities & synergies with SKA, AVN & SALT

• If successful, Southern Africa will host the two most powerful telescopes of its kind in the world (CTA & SKA)

Site Requirements for CTA1 Gb/s data link (SEACOM+Xnet??)4 MW of power (NamPower)Water supply (Ministry of Works borehole)Access roadGood logistics10 km2 of rather flat surface > 1500 m a.s.l.Minimum cloud cover & dark skiesLow risk…

Siting CTA• H.E.S.S. (farm Goellschau)

• Identified SKA sites

• Proposed primary CTA site

(farm Aar)

• Proposed secondary CTA site

(farm Goellschau)

Best site in Namibia for CTA South

Aar

HESS

Capitalwith

Airport(40km)

Harbour(120km)

&

Airport(112km)

RailwayStation

Site Location

Aar (Aar-west)(16.4530ºE, -26.691ºS)(1633±13) m asl

Implantation of CTA array

Infrastructure (Electricity)

Electricity (Aar):• Two 132kV lines

passing the farm Aar.

• The closes substation just north of Aus, connecting it with a 33 kV line

• A new power line, from Aus to farm Aar would have to be built.

• Rough estimate: N$13 million

Infrastructure (Water)

Water:• Aar:

• Boreholes on Farm Kubub (35 m3/hour) sufficient water available• needs to be pumped up to the plateau & stored in reservoir

Quality of the Namibian Site(s)

CTA TimelineCTA-PP: 2010—2013 (FP7 funded - UNAM a

signatory)Deadline for input: 30June 2013Site visits by independent Site Selection

Committee (SSC): 19—28 August 2013Recommendations from SSC by Q4 2013Site Decision: 19/20 December 20132014/15: Negotiation & signature of detailed

site agreements2015/16: comencement of preparations &

constructionConstruction phase: 4—5 years after start

CTA Resource BoardMeeting attended by highest level official

possible in government/funding agencies of member counries…

Namibia & South Africa signatories of the CTA Declaration of Intent (DoI)

Argentinian delegation headed by a Deputy Minister of Science & Technology

South African delegation headed by Prof. Nithya Chetty, Group Executive: Astronomy at the NRF

Namibian delegation headed in the past by Mr Alfred van Kent, Director of the DRST at the MoE…

CTA-RB: Namibian DelegationThe Future delegation to the CTA Resource

Board should be either theCEO of the NCRST

orA Director/Deputy Director of the NCRST

tasked with Astronomy &/ Space Science

Capacity BuildingHow to get the maximum advantage for Namibia from H.E.S.S., SKA/AVN & CTA?

H.E.S.S. (historical analysis)H.E.S.S. was not sufficiently utilised for

capacity building. WHY?Lack of minimal resources to participate in H.E.S.S.Powers-that-be misunderstanding the nature of

international collaborationsLack of candidates to be trained

MSc entry level required – level problem No undergraduate scholarships

Lack of manpower within Namibia: Astrophysicists (to participate in science programmes) Engineers (to participate in instrument design &

development)Only one astrophysicist trained (Isak D. Davids)

Too few by an order of magnitude

A lesson from SA & SKAWhen SA started to bid for SKA, it had only 3

radio astronomers and no radio telescope engineers

NRF – created undergraduate and graduate scholarships forEngineers specialising in radio telescope

technologyRadio astronomers

Started to develop technology forKAT-7 MeerKAT SKA at engineering level

Manpower was developed for a successful SKA bid

SUCCESS!!!

Roadmap for Namibia ICreate few undergraduate (& graduate)

scholarships ASAP for Instrument scientists & radio telescope engineersAstrophysicists (Radio – & High Energy –)

Create two fully resourced NRF-like research chairs around which a centre of excellence can be established in the fields ofRadio AstronomyHigh Energy Astrophysics

Create a Astronomy/Space Science Group/Division in the NCRST to help spearhead efforts

Roadmap for Namibia IISet up post-doctoral programme to attract

young researchers from abroad to help establish research groups

Help facilitate the construction of a radio telescope for the Namibian AVN telescope

Utilise standing agreements to train students in specialised courses in SA (HartRAO, NASSP) to have Namibians available to run the SKA satellite stations and participate in SKA/AVN science

Become actively involved in technology design & creation

Summary & ConclusionNamibia (and Southern Africa) is now for the

very first time in a position to take advantage of BIG SCIENCE:SKA will be the largest telescope system ever

built and one of the biggest science projects in history. (1.5 billion Euro ~ 18 billion NAD/ZAR project)

CTA will be the largest gamma-ray observatory in the world (200 million Euro ~ 2.4 billion NAD/ZAR project)

SKA/AVN & CTA present unique opportunities that must be taken advantage of and exploited for the benefit of Namibia