South Africa’s bid for radiotelescope could be threatened by natural gas exploration

Nature : South Africa’s commitment to hosting the world’s most sensitive radiotelescope array is being tested by a request from oil giant Shell to drill for natural gas in the remote region that would house the facility, writes Linda Nordling for Nature. South Africa is competing with Australia to be the home of the Square Kilometer Array radiotelescope, an array of some 3000 antennas with a total collecting area of 1 km². Because Shell’s search for natural gas would run close to the proposed site for the SKA, it could cause problems. The big worry for the SKA is radio-frequency interference, says Adrian Tiplady, site-characterization manager at SKA South Africa. “The primary risk is electromagnetic interference generated from heavy industrial equipment, such as that associated with mining equipment, and any radio communication equipment associated with the mining activity,” he says. “Seismic activity would also have an impact, but only within a closer proximity.”