Why SA's monitoring what the weather in space is like

Their cutting-edge space-weather research is beaming the Hermanus division of the SA National Space Agency (Sansa) to infinity and beyond.

"Are you hiding any aliens?" the man asks.

Elisa Fraser smiles. She's heard the question a few times.

Fraser leads the weekly public tours at the Space Science Directorate, a world-class unit of the Sansa in Hermanus (yes, it's got more than just whales).

The unit plays an important role as it forms part of a worldwide network of magnetic observatories that monitor the near-Earth space environment.

On the continent, it's at the forefront of research into space weather's effect on technology and is feeding its scientific findings into the global conversation about this issue.

"If you'll follow me," Fraser says, leading our group of camera-clicking space tourists into a room with large screens that show real-time images of our sun. "Far out," someone says.

Yes, very far, as Sansa space-physics researcher Dr Rendani Nndanganeni, based here, will tell you. Like, 149.6million kilometres far.

A PhD graduate in heliosphere physics, Nndanganeni is one of the many bright minds we bumped into on the tour (along with scientists hunched over geomagnetic devices and others preparing to go on an expedition to Antarctica. Click, click, click.).

Back to the room with the 24/7 solar-system reality TV show. Or, as it's called, the "Space Weather Regional Warning Centre" - one of 17 space-weather warning centres around the globe. It's here that Nndanganeni and other Sansa scientists interpret graphs that monitor space weather, such as solar winds and geomagnetic storms.

That's because space weather affects our technology - everything from satellite and high-frequency radio communication to GPS systems and the power grid. Sansa sends daily predictions of space-weather conditions to the SA National Defence Force, Eskom and its other clients in the aerospace, maritime and defence sectors.

Nndanganeni, at only 31, is specifically involved in cutting-edge research to understand the underlying causes and effect of space weather on the aviation sector's communication and navigation systems.

She is providing industry decision-makers and role-players with information to address these issues, especially pertinent now that the International Civil Aviation Organisation has mandated that space-weather information be included as part of flight plans from 2018.

"In the UK extreme space weather is considered a national risk disaster on the same scale as an earthquake," she says.

The Space Science programme is one of four units under Sansa, South Africa's government body set up in 2010 to "promote the peaceful use of space, research in space science, communication, navigation and co-operation in space-related activities".

Sansa has its head office in Pretoria. So why have a division in Hermanus?

The Hermanus-based Space Science Directorate is ideally situated to study magnetic conditions because the town has no train station (railway lines cause electromagnetic interference). In its previous life, the unit was actually the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory, established in 1941.

Its charmed magnetic location is why Nndanganeni, from Venda, and many other scientists from all over Africa have relocated here to take up mind-bogglingly fascinating, future-focused research posts.

Space weather's effect on us is becoming a more regular feature in mainstream news and it is something I think we'll hear a lot more about in the future. Nndanganeni says more and more we are starting to view ourselves in the context of a broader universe.

"It makes my job very exciting."