South Africa, in partnership with eight other African countries is aiming to win the bid to host the world’s largest radio telescope.

The group is in competition with Australia and New Zealand, who are also bidding for the project. Experts say that if Africa aims to part of the scientific future then projects like the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) are essential for the continent to develop its capabilities and contribute to research.

SKA SA director Bernie Fanaroff said, "We’ll be submitting tonight, and we believe that it’s a great bid. The site is better than any existing observatory site in the world."

The huge telescope includes 3000 dishes and will cover a total surface area of one square kilometer. It will cost about €1,5bn to build, and require €150m-€200m a year for operations and maintenance. The project will be funded by an international consortium of 67 organisations in 20 countries.

The African team will propose Carnarvon in the Northern Cape as the core site with satellite stations spiraling up through the continent. The teams had to submit a number of reports detailing information from satellite stations spiralling up through the continent.

The final announcement is expected on Friday.