Equipment, tools and hardware for Ghana Radio Astronomy Project and Co-location of The Satellite Earth Observation Ground Receiving Station for Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute gets a major boost as parliament waives a total amount of taxes and duties to the Ghana Cedi equivalent of Four Million, Nine Hundred and Seven Thousand, Five Hundred and Fifty-Five South African Rands (ZAR4,907,555.00).
The project when completed is expected to contribute significantly to the development of highly skilled human capital for sectors of the economy such as software, mechanical and structural, electronic and electrical, control and monitoring engineering and various fields in science and technology.
The facility to be established under the project will be used essentially to train students in Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology and Space Science.
“Ghana’s position on the GIobe makes the country closest to the equator and that is one of the reasons Ghana was chosen as a partner country” according to the Finance Commlttee report.
Ghana’s location on the Globe gives Ghana’s Radio Telescope with the widest view of the Milky Way Galaxy, thereby attracting a lot of international interest, the report noted.
The Committee chaired by Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah observed that the Radio Telescope, which is the biggest single dish Radio Telescope in Africa, will become part of the Global Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network of telescopes jointly undertaking scientific research. It will also be used for Single Dish Astronomy, becoming both a research and training centre
The government of Ghana and South Africa signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for Science Cooperation in 2013.
As a result of The MoA, Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI) of The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) in collaboration with the Square Kilometer Array South Africa (SKA-SA) through the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) within the Ghana Radio Astronomy Project renovated a redundant 32m-diameter Telecommunications Antenna into radio telescope (the Ghana radio Astronomy Project) at Kuntunse which is located about 25km north-west of Accra.
