A new telescope in the Northern Cape has prompted the Department of Science and Technology to introduce several new regulations that will have a direct impact on flights in South Africa. Flights between Cape Town and Johannesburg, in particular, will be affected, as the Department plans to introduce a mobile ‘dead zone’.
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope in the Northern Cape is a radio telescope, and is an international effort to build the largest of its sort in the world. It earned its name from the fact that it will eventually have more than a kilometre of data-collecting area.
As reported by Rapport, many flights that travel directly over the area are predicted to be diverted, which will extend the flight time between the two cities and increase the cost of plane tickets.
While the SKA regulations make a special dispensation for aviation, the South African Civil Aviation Authority has said that this has not yet been clarified.
Speaking to BusinessTech, SKA spokesperson Adrian Tiplady said that the group is currently working on a solution.
A spokesperson from the Department of Science and Technology also confirmed that it has plans to restrict specific radio frequency spectrums and activities that will interfere with the telescope’s data collection. ‘Hence, the Astronomy Geographic Advantage (AGA) Act requires the Minister to promulgate the regulations that will prohibit and restrict the use of certain radio frequency spectrum within the declared Karoo Central Astronomy Advantage Areas,’ they said.
With the exception of the Sol Plaatje Municipality, the entire Northern Cape has been declared an Astrology Advantage Area (AAA) as its conditions are the most conducive to astronomical research and related activities in the country.
Image: Pixabay
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