South Africa’s Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Blade Nzimande welcomed the country being chosen to host one of two new Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS).
JOHANNESBURG, Jan. 31 — South Africa’s Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Blade Nzimande welcomed the country being chosen to host one of two new Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS).
ATLAS is an asteroid impact early warning system developed by the University of Hawaii and funded by NASA. It consists of four telescopes, which automatically scan the whole sky several times every night looking for moving objects.
ATLAS will provide a warning time depending on the size of the asteroid as larger asteroids can be detected further from Earth.
The South Africa-based system would monitor the Southern Hemisphere and allow for night observation when it is daytime in Hawaii.
“The construction of the two additional ATLAS telescopes, in South Africa and Chile, is now complete. They have already begun operations, and the South African telescope, Atlas-Sutherland, has already discovered its first near-earth object,” said Nzimande.
He said the telescope adds to Africa’s growing list of international instruments that are being hosted at South African astronomy research facilities. This will boost scientific infrastructure and research.
“It also demonstrates once again that science and technology can facilitate foreign direct investment into the local economy,” he added.
Source: Xinhua Net