Karoo’s HERA radio telescope attracts even more international funding – SKA SA
http://www.ska.ac.za/...leases/karoos-hera-radio-telescope-attracts-even-more-international-funding/
The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) radio telescope, located only a few kilometres from the MeerKAT radio telescope, was awarded
a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in the US to the value of $5.8 million, equivalent to approximately R75 million.
The construction of HERA started in 2015 and already 35 of the 14-metre diameter dishes have been erected. In September 2016, the National Science Foundation
(NSF) invested $9.5 million (equivalent to approximately R124 million) in the project and HERA was granted the status of a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) precursor
telescope. The NSF funding allowed the array to expand to 240 radio dishes by 2018. This additional funding injection from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
will allow HERA to expand even further to 350 dishes.
This innovative radio telescope will be instrumental in detecting the distinctive signature that would allow astronomers to understand the formation and evolution
of the very first luminous sources: the first stars and galaxies in the Universe – a period the scientists call the Epoch of Reionization (EoR).
