The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has launched the Ghana Astronomy Radio Observatory at Kuntunse, and described the development as the beginning of a new era in Ghana’s quest to harness the potentials of Space Science and Technology for the accelerated socio-economic development of our country.
This new era, according to President Akufo-Addo, will not only witness the deepening of knowledge and skills development in electronics and information and communications technology of Ghanaian scientists, but also enhance their capacity to contribute to the world body of knowledge in the ever expanding field of astronomy and space science.
President Akufo-Addo made this known on Thursday, August 24, 2017, when he launched the Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory at Kuntunse, in Accra.
The President recounted how, in 2007, the country, under the leadership of President John Agyekum Kufuor, took the bold decision to sign up to the African Square Kilometre Array (SKA) partnership agreement, an agreement spearheaded by South Africa, which involved seven other African countries
This decision, he explained, was made at the time when Ghana did not have any programme in astronomy, and was an example of the bold and visionary leadership of the time, its purpose being to propel the country to the enviable league of countries pursuing space science.
Ghana, by this feat, has become the first partner country of the African Very Long Baseline Interferometer Network to complete the conversion of the 32-metre Intelsat Telecommunications Satellite Earth Station at Kuntunse into a functioning radio telescope.
It is was the hope of President Akufo-Addo that the “integration of this radio telescope into the African Very Long Baseline Interferometer Network, in preparation for the second phase construction of the Square Kilometre Array across the African continent, will be successful.”
Source: otecfmghana.com
