Department of Physics (KNUST) Students participate in Transient Array Radio Telescope (TART) Training.
three MPhil students and one Teaching Assistant from the Department of Physics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), joined fellow participants at the TART Ghana Workshop held at the Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory (GRAO), Kuntunse, Accra.
The five-day training introduced participants to the Transient Array Radio Telescope (TART), a low-cost, modular radio telescope designed to make astronomy accessible for training and research. Unlike massive observatories that take years to build, TART can be assembled locally using commercial off-the-shelf components.
This approach provides students, engineers, and technicians with hands-on skills in antenna installation, system calibration, and astronomical data analysis.
The event was jointly organised by the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI) in collaboration with the Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA), the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), the University of Otago and the New Zealand Electronic Research Foundation. A total of 19 participants drawn from GSSTI, GRAO, KNUST, the University of Cape Coast, and the DARA programme worked side-by-side with international experts.
The training combined lectures, demonstrations, and practical sessions that walked participants through the complete process, from assembling the 24-element synthesis array to generating astronomical images. This installation marked the sixth TART deployment worldwide, following earlier roll-outs in Kenya, Mauritius, Botswana, Zambia, and Hammanskraal (South Africa).
The Ghana installation adds momentum to Africa’s growing participation in the global radio astronomy landscape, closely tied to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project. For KNUST, this training represents a significant milestone. As the university prepares to accredit its MPhil in Astrophysics/Astronomy, the TART workshop equips its students with invaluable technical skills while strengthening local capacities for innovation, research, and international collaboration.
