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The founding board of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope project has announced the process and timeline for selection of the host site for the world's most powerful radio telescope. South Africa and Australia are leading the rival bids.

South Africa is fully committed to the Square Kilometre Array project, and has done considerable work in support of its bid to host the world's most powerful radio telescope, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor tells a SKA meeting in Canada.

An initiative by South Africa's Centre for High Performance Computing, along with a partnership between Intel and SKA South Africa, have given hi-tech support to South Africa's bid to host the €1.5-billion Square Kilometre Array.

South Africa will soon have its own space agency to promote and coordinate space science and technology programmes in the country.
• MeerKAT in demand among scientists

South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope is scheduled to become operational only in five years’ time, but scientists from around the world are lining up to book research time at the facility.

South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope will become operational only in five years’ time, but scientists from around the world are already lining up to book research time at the facility.
• A trek to the start of time

It will probe the edges of our universe. It will be a virtual time machine, helping scientists explore the origins of galaxies. It's the Square Kilometre Array, and South Africans are at the heart of its development.
• African eyes on the universe

It will be capable of probing the edges of our universe. It will search for gravitational waves, predicted but never detected. It will be a virtual time machine, enabling scientists to explore the origins of galaxies, stars and planets. And South Africans are at the heart of its development.