The South African National Space Agency (Sansa) reported on Friday that ground had officially been broken for its new R70.89-million Regional Space Weather Centre in Hermanus, Western Cape province, on Tuesday. The new centre falls under the Sansa Space Science programme, which is also based in Hermanus.

Space weather can have important Earthly effects. Space weather is basically generated by the Sun, from which there is a constant outflow of particles and plasma (called the solar wind), and the interaction of these particles and plasma with Earth’s magnetic fields. However, the density and intensity of such outflows is massively increased by phenomena on the Sun such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Solar flares are large eruptions of electromagnetic radiation that can last from minutes to hours, while CMEs are large expulsions of both plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona. 

If they come towards the Earth, flares and CMEs can interfere with electronics on satellites, satellite navigation system signals, communications and even, in extreme cases, electricity grids on Earth. With the now significant dependence of modern life on satellite-based systems, such interference can have direct, as well as indirect, effects on people’s lives. Consequently, space weather needs to be monitored, and that need is growing.

Sansa is a member of the International Space Environment Service, and its space science facility in Hermanus acts as the Regional Warning Centre for Space Weather in Africa. However, this centre, set up in 2010 and upgraded in 2018, is really a limited focus research and development centre. It has been focused on space weather impacts on high frequency communications and is not able to operate on a 24/7 basis. The new space weather centre will provide a full and 24/7 service.

The building of the new centre is set to start next month and construction, equipping and commissioning will take three years. The Department of Science and Innovation has already allocated R40-million to the project and will provide the other R30-million during the next financial year. Of the total, R15-million will be dedicated to human capital development including skills development and job creation. The centre is scheduled to be fully operational on a 24/7 basis from October 1, 2022.

Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Blade Nzimande assured that the new centre would “further grow the science, engineering, technology and innovation sector, offering opportunities to develop scarce skills and increase national research output, while ensuring that usable products and services are generated for the safety of the nation and Africa at large”. “This is the first of many steps towards our aspirational plans to expand the South African space programme for the benefit of humanity,” stressed Sansa CEO Dr Val Munsamy.

“The new Space Weather Centre will be a state-of-the-art building that we can all be proud of and the Sansa Hermanus campus will become something akin to a ‘space park’ – the importance will not only be in what the building symbolises, it will be in the value proposition for the nation and the continent that we have created by developing a national capability in critical skills, a service that accrues domain-specific and public-good benefits, positioning South Africa amongst global experts offering solutions to this global challenge of space weather, and a motivational driver for young South Africans that are our future space scientists,” affirmed Sansa Space Science MD Dr Lee-Anne McKinnell.