The SA National Space Agency (Sansa) has opened a state-of-the-art space weather facility in Hermanus, one of two regional centres selected by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in 2019 to provide the industry with warnings of potential communication blackouts and radiation surges.
Space weather is caused by the sun’s activity, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which can trigger magnetic storms that disrupt high-frequency communications and increase radiation levels in the earth’s atmosphere.
“Space weather ... affects everything we have come to depend on in life. Mobile technology, communication systems, navigation and GPS systems are all vulnerable to the impacts of space weather, ” Sansa MD Lee-Anne McKinnell said at the launch of the facility on Thursday.
The Hermanus installation links into a global space weather information service established by the ICAO in 2019 that provides aircraft operators and flight crew with space weather advisories along with standard meteorological information.
This enables them to change planned routes or switch to alternative communication frequencies when space weather causes radiation surges or has the potential to knock out vital radio and satellite communication. It also provides information to the military and the maritime industry.
The R107.5m centre has taken three years to build and was completed on schedule at the end of September, said Higher Education Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande. The project was funded with a R70.9m ring-fenced government grant and a R36.6m investment from Sansa. It expands the capability of the Hermanus space weather centre, which had been providing a limited service for the past decade, he said.
“It is part of our overall strategy to position science, technology and innovation at the centre of our developmental agenda,” Nzimande said. “We must promote this centre as part of science tourism.”
The space weather centre continuously monitors the sun’s activity, and issues daily forecasts to the public and customers. It draws on the data generated by the African Instrumentation Network, an array of measuring devices spanning SA. Botswana, Zambia, Nigeria and Kenya, said space weather researcher Tshimangadzo Matamba. Planning is under way to include Rwanda, Ethiopia and Egypt, she said.
Nzimande said Sansa played an important role in international space co-operation, and was negotiating with Nasa to establish a tracking and telemetry station in Matjiesfontein to support future moon exploration.
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