TART install in Botswana, March 2025
Another successful TART installation workshop was held at Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) in Palapye Botswana on March 17-21 2025. This marks the third successful installation of a TART telescope in an SKA African Partner nation, and followed two successful installations in Mauritius and Kenya in 2024. The workshop was presented by Prof Oleg Smirnov (Rhodes University, SARAO, South Africa), Dr Tim Molteno (University of Otago, New Zealand) and Dr Ben Hugo (SARAO, South Africa) with the local installation team led by Dr Fahmi Mokhupuki of BIUST.
The initiative to place TART telescopes in SKA African Partner nations was started in 2023 at the suggestion of Carla Mitchell-Sharpe, Africa Programme Manager at SARAO. The Botswana workshop was funded by SARAO, the DARA programme, and the Electronics Research Foundation.