Marianne Merten
Feel like visiting the pyramids without leaving your armchair? Or maybe getting to grips with Heathrow Airport in London before stepping off the plane?
Simply enter what looks like a miniature television game show set, sit and let the computers do the rest at the virtual reality laboratory at the Institute of Satellite and Software Applications (Issa).
And next door students can learn how to fix satellites, without going into orbit, by donning a sci-fi headset and data gloves that are equipped with special sensors, and running the appropriate interactive computer software package.
The recently established lab is one of many facilities at the institute aimed at putting South Africa at the continent’s cutting edge of satellite and software technology.
Other facilities include a multi-media lab where students can design websites and acquire skills like computer video editing, which can be applied at the institute’s computer-based radio station.
BSc graduate Kgosi Makwati from Dobsonville, Soweto, is studying network engineering there.
“I am fascinated with computers, the power of what a computer can achieve,” he said.
“I’m very interested in computers and new technologies,” said Derrick Sonamzi (21) from Umtata in the Eastern Cape while working on the computers in the virtual reality lab.
Since its inception in 1998 the institute has actively recruited black graduates from previously disadvantaged communities to propel them into space, satellite and computer technology fields through its post- graduate engineering qualifications.
This vision is in line with the government’s focus on science, maths and technology in education. It is also important because South Africa still has a shortage of qualified information communications engineers.
“We are building a body of know-ledge here. We expect that what is developed here can be used for further development,” said administration manager Dumisani Sondlo.
Similar centres exist only in Morocco and Egypt. It is hoped that in future there will be close co-operation to put Africa on the map in accordance with the Millennium Africa Project.
“Space is a high-tech area and we see South Africa as a leader in the field in Africa. We need this kind of technology and know-how,” said Fred Thomas, ISSA frequency spectrum manager.
The institute has produced 202 graduates from across South Africa over the past three years. Its qualifications in the software and satellite engineering fields be it a postgraduate degree, diploma or any of its short courses on fibre-optic design are internationally recognised. This year there are 131 students at the institute and about half of them are women, as in previous years. There is also a joint training partnership between the institute and Carnegie Mellon University in the United States for software engineering masters students.
The institute also offers a one-year bridging course in conjunction with the University of Stellenbosch to equip mathematics, physics and science graduates with the skills to enter the computer network and satellite engineering fields.
The institute and the university are the only two research and education centres offering such qualifications in South Africa.
And if all the talk about space and satellites seems just a little too far-fetched, what is taught at the institute has real-life benefit.
One recent graduate has moved from designing her own computer games to being the computer network controller at the South African Revenue Service.
What is happening today at the institute a remote site among the pine-tree-covered mountains around Grabouw about 80km from Cape Town is a far cry from what was.
Until the early Nineties the area was strictly off limits. Denel, South Africa’s weapons procurement agency, ran its satellite and missile programme on behalf of the South African Defence Force there.
The Houwteq research centre, worth billions of rands, and the surrounding area were classified top secret under the National Key Points Act in pursuance of the apartheid government’s dream of launching spy satellites to monitor neighbours.
After South Africa’s first democratic elections the programme was stopped and the facility mothballed until the Department of Communications transformed it into a cutting-edge technology centre.