Better receivers, engineering benefit MeerKAT, SKA

Multiple and more sensitive receivers are being deployed on the 64 antennas of the MeerKAT radio telescope array, which will improve the scientific data it gathers, says Square Kilometre Array (SKA) South Africa science and engineering associate director professor Justin Jonas. “The good design of the telescope prompted the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, to invest €11-million to build new sets of radio receivers operating in the S-band of radio frequencies, which will be deployed on the MeerKAT antennas,” says SKA South Africa project director Dr Bernie Fanaroff.