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TART install in Zambia, June 2025

· 4 min read
Tim Molteno
Tim Molteno
TART project lead

A TART installation workshop was held at Copperbelt University (CbU) in Kitwe, Zambia between June 2nd and June 6th 2025. The Transient Array Radio Telescope (TART) is an open source radio telescope. Originally developed by Dr Tim Molteno, and students at the University of Otago's Department of Physics. The TART is a radio-telescope with the capability to observe the entire sky continuously and optimized to detect satellites, near-earth objects and transient events including high-energy cosmic rays. The telescope is also designed to serve as a platform for the development of new imaging algorithms.

As part of an effort to install TART telescope in all the African SKA Partner nations, this workshop followed installations in Botswana (2025), Mauritius and Kenya (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 support of the local installation team led by Dr Saul Phiri and Dr Prospery Simpema of CbU.

The initiative to place TART telescopes in SKA African Partner nations was started in 2023 and is a joint effort of the University of Otago, Rhodes University, the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), the DARA programme and the Electronics Research Foundation.

TART at CbU
TART team members Dr Tim Molteno and Dr Proven Emmanuel, along with students and staff from Copperbelt University, and the completed TART telescope that they built.
CbU Students
Professor Oleg Smirnov with CbU students and staff assembling the TART spiral array at the workshop.

The electronics installed in the Zambian TART were the latest version of the open-source designs produced by the TART project that originated at the University of Otago. This allowed the workshop attendees to spend more time engaging with the practical and theoretical aspects of operating a radio telescope. The lecture schedule included two public lectures which were attended by more than a hundred members of the University community and members of the public. After the lectures, there was a fascinating and wide-ranging question and answer session that covered topics from astrophysics in the kitchen to the detection of ghosts with radio telescopes.

The workshop concluded with an Official Opening Ceremony with a speech from Eng Dr Brilliant Habeenzu, Permanent Secretary for the Zambian Ministry of Technology and Science, presented by Lawrence Mwanza - Copperbelt Permanent Secretary,

TART at CbU
Dr Tim Molteno of the University of Otago explaining the operation of the TART telescope to Lawrence Mwanza - Copperbelt Permanent Secretary, during the official opening on June 6th.
TART at CbU
Presenters at the Zambia TART workshop. From left to right: Prof Oleg Smirnov (Rhodes), Dr Tim Molteno (University of Otago), Dr Ben Hugo (SARAO) and Dr Proven Emmanuel (Ghana AVN Radio Observatory)

Acknowledgements​

The TART team would like to thank the University of Otago for support with staff time and hardware, Rhodes University for supporting travel and staff time. We're also extremely grateful to the DARA project for supporting the accommodation in Kitwe for the entire TART team, and to SARAO for contributing towards the cost of hardware as well as travel and staff time (Ben Hugo).