By: Nana
Appiah Acquaye
The Kenya Space Agency (KSA)
is holding a five-day East Africa Transient Array Radio Telescope (TART) Training Workshop at Kenyatta University’s Kitui Campus from October 26 to 30, 2026, to strengthen regional radio astronomy capacity.
The workshop brings together
scientists, engineers, researchers, and students from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, and Ethiopia for practical radio astronomy training.
Lt. Col. Nickson Kosi,
Director of Space Applications and Utilization at KSA, officiated at the
opening on behalf of the Director General, Maj Gen Hillary Kipkosgey. Also
present were Kenyatta University Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research,
Innovation and Outreach, Prof. Caroline Thoruwa, and Deputy Executive Dean of
the School of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Prof. Joseph Gweyi.
Participants will gain
hands-on experience in TART installation and operation, data calibration, radio
imaging and data analysis.
The training is being
facilitated by Prof. Eloy de Lera Acedo of the University of Cambridge, Prof.
Oleg Smirnov and Dr. Landman Bester of the South African Radio Astronomy
Observatory (SARAO), alongside colleagues from the University of Otago.
The Director highlighted the
Agency’s continued partnerships with institutions of higher learning to advance
capacity building in space science and technology. He noted that the
collaboration with Kenyatta University spans CubeSat development, space science
and astronomy.
The university also hosts
the near-complete KSA Astronomical Observatory at its Kitui Campus, marking an
important milestone for research in Kenya.
Participants were encouraged
to turn the training into joint research, data sharing, publications and
mentorship, while passing on their knowledge to colleagues and students.
