Africa 2 Moon Programme
- Paper number
IAC-16,A3,IP,9,x34042
- Coauthor
Ms. Carla Sharpe, SKA South Africa, South Africa
- Coauthor
Mr. Khutso Ngoasheng, SKA Africa, South Africa
- Year
2016
- Abstract
Participation in Science, technology, engineering and innovation is often viewed as the best approach to developing African societies, and changing the socio-economic trajectory of the continent as a whole, within the globalised world. The Africa2Moon project was conceived as a beacon project to highlight the potential and ability of the African community, and to inspire Africa to “Reach for the Moon” by reaching for the moon! The project is a public participation project that aims to place a satellite into lunar orbit, as well as place a low frequency radio telescope array on the moon’s surface. The Low Frequency Radio Telescope will produce first time science on the dark side of the Moon in the 1 - 5 MHz range. The satellite constellation will beam messages to Earth, where they will provide scientific insight into the potential of low frequency radio astronomy. The data is to be relayed to academia and importantly to classrooms across Africa. As a continent, Africa is yet to work on an inclusive, multi-national space program that enables Africa to inspire and highlight Africa’s potential and ability in Science, Technology, Engineering and Innovation industries. The Africa2Moon project addresses this by being privately funded, by encouraging international, multi-disciplinary contribution and inclusion. The greatest success criterion for the mission is to inspire future African generations to push the boundaries of space and science by successfully implementing a first-science low frequency telescope on the moon. In this paper we outline the proposed Africa2Moon mission concept.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)