Page 22 - EngineerIT December 2022

SPACE SCIENCES

In conversation with

Dr LeeAnne McKinnell, managing

director of SANSA Hermanus

outh Africa has a new 24-hour, state of the art regional space weather centre
in Hermanus. The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) has made huge
Sinvestments in establishing a world-class space weather capability that will
not only benefit South Africa, but also the rest of Africa. The department’s entity,
South African National Space Agency (SANSA), developed the new capability. SANSA
has been operating a space weather centre for the past ten years, with limited
focus. It has worked on monitoring the sun and its activity, and has been providing
space weather forecasts, warnings, alerts and environmental data on space weather
conditions.
The operational capability has been developed over the past three years and to
date, the DSI has invested over R70 million for the establishment of the 24/7 space
weather capability.
A sophisticated space weather centre has been on the mind of Dr Lee-Anne
McKinnell from when she was first appointed as managing director of the Hermanus
Magnetic Observatory, the forerunner of SANSA Hermanus back in 2010. I had an on-
line conversation with Dr McKinnell and my first obvious question was: Why is a space
weather centre so important for South Africa? Dr Lee-Anne McKinnell
“Space weather has an impact on our technological systems like communications,
navigation, radiation exposure and electronics, and this impact means that our of space weather internationally. We
systems are vulnerable to space weather events. The space weather centre allows for were in the right place at the right time
the forecasting and prediction of space weather events, giving us early warning of the when the International Civil Aviation
profoundly negative, often debilitating, effects on our technological systems. Organisation (ICAO) was looking for
We have a control room environment where we continuously monitor the countries to put up their hands to be the
sun, which is the driver of space weather. We also have the capability and skills designated information providers for our
development that we need in space science and forecasting, so that qualified people region. So, South Africa committed to
can interpret the data and provide information that is useful for decision makers.” be audited and assessed. In 2018, ICAO
announced five centres that had been
A space weather centre has been a dream of yours for a very long time, and you selected to be designated space weather
started one at Hermanus when it was still known as the magnetic observatory. What is information providers, and South Africa
the difference between then and now? was one of them. This was the catalyst.
“SANSA, the HMO then, has been involved in space weather since about 2007 when
we officially became designated by the International Space Environment Service as How do we take our legacy centre and
a regional warning centre for space weather within Africa. At the time, we took a move it into the future? What would we
decision to limit our focus on one domain: high frequency communications. In 2010 have to do to meet all the guidelines?
we opened the space weather centre which had limited operational capability in one The capability that we launched in
domain. We focused largely on R&D, specialising in high frequency communications. November 2022 is now able to provide
We chose that domain because at the time it was of key interest to Africa. But you’re forecasts and predictions on a 24/7
completely right that it has been a dream of mine come true, a fully-fledged space basis in three of the four domains, with
weather centre. Between 2014 and 2017, we were part of a lot of conversations satellite comms on the back burner for
around the impact of space weather and future impacts of space weather on aviation. now. The other three we are able to
The aviation sector is one that has rallied around trying to understand the impacts do fully. We have developed many new

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