South Africa sets up entity to house all radio astronomy facilities

South Africa has consolidated its radio astronomy facilities into a single institution, the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO). This happened at the end of last month when Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor announced that the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) had been deprived of its status as a National Research Facility, under the National Research Foundation (NRF) while, at the same time, the new SARAO had been declared a National Research Facility in its place.