South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRF-SARAO)

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) is a national facility managed by the National Research Foundation. SARAO incorporates all of South Africa’s national radio astronomy telescopes and programmes, including the MeerKAT radio telescope, the Hartebeesthoek site, and geodesy and very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) work.

Registered name

South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRF-SARAO)

Type

National research facility (National Research Foundation)

Fields funded

BSc and BEng science and engineering, and postgraduate astronomy and engineering

Website

sarao.ac.za

MeerKAT and the SKA

MeerKAT stands about 90 kilometres outside Carnarvon in the Northern Cape and is a precursor to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), into whose mid-frequency component it will be integrated. The SKA is an international project to build the world’s largest radio telescope, co-located in Africa and Australia, with image resolution 50 times better than the Hubble Space Telescope. The Karoo’s radio-quiet desert is protected under the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act of 2007.

Hartebeesthoek, west of Johannesburg, was built by NASA in 1961, and its 26-metre antenna once tracked and commanded unmanned US space probes.

Discoveries from the Karoo

Astronomers using MeerKAT have discovered the most distant hydroxyl megamaser ever detected, a natural cosmic laser in a merging galaxy more than 8 billion light-years away. A team from the University of the Western Cape and the University of Manchester used MeerKAT to detect faint radio emission from neutral hydrogen across cosmic distances on its own. Other researchers have revealed the true scale of the Vela Supercluster, hidden behind the Milky Way.

Skills beyond astronomy

SARAO’s human capital work reaches beyond astronomy. SARAO and DigiSkills Africa have launched a third cohort of their pan-African Digital Transformation Programme, and SARAO runs an e-learning platform for radio astronomy education.

Scholarships

SARAO funds scholarships from undergraduate to doctoral level to build scientists and engineers for MeerKAT, the SKA and related work, with postgraduate awards tied to SARAO-approved projects and supervisors. SARAO’s undergraduate scholarships support BSc and BEng degrees, and applications run through the NRF’s online system. The 2027 undergraduate round opened on 1 June 2026 and closed on 14 August 2026.

How to research SARAO

Follow SARAO’s news for new MeerKAT discoveries and mention one in your motivation. Read SARAO’s application guide when the 2028 round opens around May 2027, and register on the NRF system early.

MeerKAT’s 64 dishes also create jobs in the Karoo for technicians who maintain antennas, power and data links far from any city, so SARAO needs artisans as well as scientists.

See the SKA South Africa Bursaries guide.