The vastness of space and the mysteries of the universe are waiting to be discovered, and the University of the Western Cape (UWC) is part of the team working on unravelling the data the cosmos offers.
 
UWC's astrophysics team is contributing to the development and deployment of the Hydrogen Intensity and Real-time Analysis eXperiment (HIRAX) project, which has now produced its first reflector dish. This is a major milestone in the project which aims to deploy more than one thousand dishes placed in the Karoo. 

One of HIRAX's goals is to trace the evolution of dark energy, which has been one of the main research foci of Prof Mario Dos Santos, who is from the Physics and Astronomy Department at UWC and the director of the Centre for Radio Cosmology: “Understanding the nature of dark energy in the Universe is a major goal in cosmology and particle physics. The HIRAX telescope will be part of a new generation of instruments targeting this measurement using the neutral hydrogen intensity mapping technique.” Prof Dos Santos added: “UWC is a founding partner of HIRAX, and its cosmology group has been spearheading this technique both from the theory and data analysis side, in particular, using observations from the MeerKAT telescope, also set in South Africa.”

When completed, HIRAX will produce high-precision measurements on dark energy parameters, and, together with the MeerKAT telescope and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), will become a major player in the international cosmology community. Prof Dos Santos said: “It is impressive to have all these instruments being built in South Africa and see the South African community playing a major role in both its development and scientific exploration.”

The project provides opportunities for UWC students to engage in cutting-edge research. Students are involved in various aspects of the project, from theory to observations and data analysis.

UWC collaborates with other South African institutions and international partners to ensure the project's success. This includes working closely with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, which leads the HIRAX project.