South Africa is ready to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the world's most powerful radio telescope and one of the great scientific projects of the 21st century.
In the quest to answer the major unanswered questions in astronomy, the SKA may reveal new details about dark energy, the mysterious negative pressure that appears to be pushing the cosmos apart at an ever increasing speed.
It will be 50 times more sensitive than any of the existing radio telescopes currently in operation in 25 countries around the world.
The SKA's central location will be outside Carnarvon in the Northern Cape, with other parts of the array as far as 3000 kilometres away in 8 African countries - Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Mauritius, Madagascar, Kenya, Ghana and Zambia.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Mrs Naledi Pandor, together with the Premier of the Northern Cape, Mrs Hazel Jenkins, visited the site on 30 March accompanied by the SKA steering committee.
The visit was in celebration of the successful construction of the seventh and final dish of the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT-7), which was completed ahead of schedule in early 2010.
A core component of the country's bid initiative is the design and construction of an operational demostrator telescope, the MeerKAT.To achieve this objective, the construction of the 7 dish KAT-7 serves as the MeerKAT precursor array.
The KAT-7 will serve as both an engineering test-bed and as an operational radio telescope. The MeerKAT will be one of the largest scientific research facilities in the world and will consolidate Africa as a major global hub for astronomy in the world.
The achievement clearly demonstrates Africa's existing capabilities in science and technology and positions Africa more favourably to host the telescope jointly with other partners on the continent.
This is a significant milestone, which positions Africa well ahead of Australia, the only other remaining contender in the bid to host the SKA.