MFAA environmental prototypes on their way to the South Africa Karoo SKA site.

© ASTRON

The previous daily images (17-06-2013 and 09-09-2013) showed the four environmental prototypes inside the WSRT bouwhal, and the anchor test performed at the South Afrika Karoo SKA site. Since then, the dissipating electronics and sensors for temperature and humidity were added and tested. This all took place at chilly temperatures in the Netherlands. All worked satisfactorily, so the prototypes could be taken apart and loaded into the 40ft sea container to be shipped to its warm destination. The transfer from the cold Northern hemisphere to the south is done by the ocean vessel RED CEDAR 4207 shown in one of the pictures. You can check out the current position of the RED CEDAR at the marinetraffic site

The goal is to place four different MFAA prototypes in the field for several years. This allows the environment to "decide" which one is most suitable. The idea is to incorporate as many different design features as possible in these few carefully defined prototypes. All prototypes have varying levels of protection. Two of them have only a cover for rain and Sun, while the delicate electronics are protected locally by special coatings. Another prototype resembles the LOFAR HBA with its insulated housing, made of packaging material. The fourth is fully closed and made of low-cost plastics.

These environmental prototypes are part of the Array Prototypes work package of the

SKA Mid-Frequency Aperture Array consortium

This project is part-financed by the Northern Netherlands (SNN), the European Regional Development Fund, and the "Peaks in the Delta" program of the Dutch Ministry of Economic affairs, Agriculture and Innovation.