* New telescope will be 10,000 times faster than any other
* South Africa has accused Australia of dirty tricks
* Australia has flagged security concerns in S. Africa
* Winner may be announced on Wednesday
(Adds comment from SKA committee representative in London)
By Jon Herskovitz and James Grubel
JOHANNESBURG/CANBERRA, April 2 (Reuters) – Deadly rivals on
the rugby field, cricket pitch and in the underground mining
sector, South Africa and Australia are now squaring off in a new
contest: to win the right to host the world’s most powerful
telescope.
The duo are finalists in a tender to host the device, known
as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which will be 50 times more
sensitive and 10,000 times faster than any other telescope on
the planet, according to the international consortium funding
the 2 billion euro ($2.66 billion) project.
The fight has turned nasty, with South Africa accusing
Australia of dirty tricks and Australians raising security
concerns about building such an expensive project in South
Africa, which has high rates of violent crime.
South Africa has even accused Australia of “selectively
leaking” data about what are supposed to be secret deliberations
in order to boost its own bid.
Continued…
