SKA 'will be alien invasion'

Most of those who participated in public hearings on the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope were worried that the project would harm the Karoo community in the Northern Cape.

This was revealed by Kobus van Rooyen, chairman of the hearings.

"About 80% [of the community] have serious problems with the Square Kilometre Array project," Van Rooyen said.

• Karoo SKA takes giant leap into a distant pastIt is going to take decades to reach its full capacity, but the Square Kilometre Array telescope is already overtaking its own technological advances in a gruelling game of scientific cat-and-mouse.

They feared that the allocation of 11800ha of land to the project would result in huge job losses on sheep farms. Others worried that cellphone signals would be affected by the project.

Van Rooyen said these fears were unfounded.