The South African National Space Agency (Sansa) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) on Tuesday signed an agreement that would see the two countries collaborating on the development of science and space technologies.

The announcement coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to South Africa for the fifth yearly Brics summit.

Under the agreement, Roscosmos would provide hardware for upgrading a South Africa-based tracking station to be compatible with the Russia-developed RadioAstron satellite, while Sansa would install and maintain the upgraded hardware and operate the tracking station.

The RadioAstron satellite was launched by Roscosmos in 2011 and carried a radio telescope that obtained images and coordinates of various radio-emitting objects.

The project was an international collaboration led by the Astro Space Centre of the Lebedev Physical Institute, in Moscow.

Partners included the European Space Agency, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, in the US, the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, in India, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, in Australia.

Sansa believed the RadioAstron mission would complement other radio astronomy facilities in Africa – such as the Square Kilometre Array project – and enhance the continent's reputation as a premier destination for radio astronomy.

Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom, who said the partnership would secure South Africa’s position in the global space science and technology arena, welcomed the announcement.

“This partnership will not only provide an opportunity to use space science and technology to contribute towards socioeconomic development, but will also affirm our strategic geographic position in the Southern Hemisphere,” he commented.

While the RadioAstron aerial was dwarfed by many ground-based radio telescopes, it was able to make observations with an unparalleled level of precision by combining signals with telescopes on the ground.

If considered as a single, virtual telescope, RadioAstron would be the world's largest radio telescope, with a "dish" measuring about 390 000 km.