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South Africa Wins Science Panel's Backing To Host SKA Telescope
ananyo writes "A scientific panel has narrowly recommended South Africa over Australia as the best site for the proposed Square Kilometre Array (SKA), an enormous US$2.1-billion radio telescope. While the project's member states have yet to make a final decision on where the telescope will go, the odds are now that the African bid will ultimately win out against the joint bid from Australia and New Zealand to host the project. The SKA radio telescope will be made up of some a 3,000 dishes, each 15 metres in diameter. The project will try to answer big questions about the early Universe: how the first elements heavier than helium formed, for example, and how the first galaxies coalesced. The telescope is so sensitive that it could even pick up television signals from distant worlds — something that might aid in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence."
I will admit that I don't know the cultures of both places very well, but between the two...
Wouldn't you go with Australia based on population density alone? This is a radio telescope, something you want in someplace remote. You pick a square kilometer out in the middle of the outback, there's going to be like NO local interference. South Africa has approximately 40 times the population density, and they seem to be spread around the country a little more evenly than Australia.
Of course you disagree, you're an idiot who thinks he's smarter than everyone else. How much have you researched this issue? Have you ever worked with telescopes? If your answers are no and no then please shut the fuck up and accept the experts' decision. What makes you think there's a higher chance of your gut feeling being right than the team of experts who actually spent time researching before reaching a conclusion?