Name of the Project
Hydrogen Epoch of Reionisation Array (Hera) project.

Location
The project is located a few kilometres from the MeerKAT radio telescope, at the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) South Africa Losberg site near Carnarvon, in South Africa’s Western Cape province.

Client
In addition to SKA South Africa (SKA SA), the partners in Hera are, in the US, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Arizona State University, Brown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Washington. In Italy, the partner institution is the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, and in the UK, Cambridge University. South African universities associated with the programme are KwaZulu-Natal, Rhodes, Western Cape, and Witwatersrand.

Project Description
Hera, which was recently granted the status of an SKA precursor telescope, currently has nineteen, 14 m radio dishes at the SKA South Africa Losberg site. The project entails increasing the number of dishes to 37.

This telescope aims to detect the distinctive signature that will enable astronomers to understand the formation and evolution of the very first luminous sources – the first stars and galaxies in the universe.

Hera will operate with minimal man-made radio interference and will explore the billion-year period after hydrogen collapsed into the first galaxies a few hundred years after the Big Bang.

The telescope has a minimalist design, which makes it a relatively inexpensive structure.

As each antenna will point in a fixed direction, they do not have to move around, so no expensive moving parts are required.

Jobs to be Created
Not stated.

Value
Not stated.

Duration
The radio dishes are expected to be in operation by 2018.

Latest Developments
The Hera telescope has received a significant cash injection that will fund a major expansion of the array, the SKA SA has announced. SKA SA is one of the partners in the Hera programme.

The new grant is worth $5.8-million, and comes from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. It follows a $9.5-million grant from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) in September last year. While the NSF grant ensures that Hera will have 240 antennas by 2018, the new grant will increase that figure to 350. Construction of the array started in 2015 and 35 of the 14-m-diameter dishes have been erected.

Hera is classified as a pathfinder for the Square Kilometre Array Phase 1 low-frequency array (SKA1 LOW). SKA1 LOW will be hosted by Australia, with South Africa being the base for the SKA Phase 1 midfrequency array.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
SKA SA communications manager Lorenzo Raynard, cell +27 71 454 0658 or email lorenzo@ska.ac.za.