The Space Science division of the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) has officially inaugurated its ‘24/7’ space weather forecasting capability, at its facility in Hermanus (south east of Cape Town) in the Western Cape province. The inauguration was conducted by South African Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Dr Blade Nzimande on Thursday. In his address, Nzimande reported that the setting up of the capability, which included the construction of a dedicated building and ancillary structures and systems (including a generator to provide power during ‘loadshedding’, when the national electricity utility Eskom implemented rotating power cuts due to inadequate supply), as well as training staff, had required an investment by SANSA of R107.5-million over three years. He highlighted that SANSA had developed the business case for the ‘24/7’ capability in 2019, and that the programme had been successfully implemented despite taking place during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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