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22 February 2018 Photo Johan Roux
KovsieACT music festival lives up to the hype
Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.

Description: Kovsie Act concert Tags: Kovsie Act concert

Shekhinah embraces students at the festival.
Photo: Monk Manyeloyi

A weekend that promised great excitement kicked off on Friday 16 February 2018 with the Kovsie ACT Eco-vehicle race. This event saw students teaming up in their respective colleges in high hopes of earning what was assured to be a gratifying reward. The overall winners of the race were North College who also won for team spirit, the slalom race, and the Formula-e lookalike.

Students at the race rumbled with excitement as they witnessed the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Free State Prof Francis Petersen get his hands dirty when he decided to test-drive one of the Eco-vehicles himself. “It was honestly an electrifying moment that proves that co-curricular activities have the power to indeed help shift education into the right direction,” said Dean of Student Affairs, Pura Mgolombane, who was seen alongside Prof Petersen.

The first official Kovsie ACT music festival was billed to rock Bloemfontein, and it did exactly that! With the gates opening at 4pm on 17 February 2018, the event saw people pouring in shortly afterwards. The community and student-centred celebration saw a turnout nothing short of amazing.

The evening included a laser show display that is always a crowd pleaser, with OFM radio-show host Shandor Potgieter as the official MC for the event. Festivalgoers were entertained by various musical acts that included Sam Ludidi and local DJ duo, C’jo-&-Cider.

The crowd rushed to the main arena as Jack Parow prepared to kick off with his piece, which undoubtedly revved them up. Shekhinah, of course, followed through with a thrilling performance that held fans at her mercy, with many shouting “Shekhinah!”, as she left the stage. 

Prince Kaybee’s electrifying set ended off the night on a high note. The audience wanted more but the celebrations for the evening had to come to an end. “The festival was too lit, and the artists brought the heat, exactly what I needed before classes start on Monday,” said #KovsieCyberSta and student Thuli Molebalwa.

Kovsie ACT music festival

News Archive

NASA Deep Space Navigation engineer presents at Naval Hill Planetarium
2017-03-30

Description: NASA Deep Space Navigation engineer Tags: NASA Deep Space Navigation engineer

From the left: Chris du Plessis; US Consulate, Johannesburg,
Prof Petrus Meintjes; Dept of Physics UFS, Christopher Jacobs;
NASA, and Anthony Deaton; US Consulate Johannesburg.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

The University of the Free State (UFS) hosted NASA Deep Space engineer Christopher Jacobs on 27 March 2017 at the Bloemfontein Campus. The engagement was hosted by Prof Matie Hoffman of the Department of Physics and the Department of Institutional Advancement, in collaboration with the US Consulate General in Johannesburg.

Jacobs is stationed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology and has served as the Reference Frame Calibration task manager for 25 years. In this role he has been responsible for delivering the reference frames used to navigate NASA missions such as the Mars Science Laboratory to planetary targets.

His visit to the UFS included a presentation to the Department of Astrophysics at the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and at the Naval Hill Planetarium in Bloemfontein where he spoke on Stellar GPS: Navigating the Solar System. He also spoke about the latest research and developments at NASA in Astrometry. The visit will establish and develop shared interests and possible collaboration with UFS and other institutions of interest in the country. “South Africa, because of its well-placed geographic location in the southern hemisphere, holds a lot of answers to astronomy,” Jacobs said.

He has an active interest in professional and public education, and outreach, having given public lectures around the world. “Astronomy brings people together and is a point of common interest that is key in solving environmental and geographical challenges such as climate change, therefore global cooperation is important,” he said.

Prof Hoffman welcomed the initiative by the US Consulate and the possible outcomes of joint efforts to position the UFS as a key partner in South Africa on NASA’s astronomy projects. In the coming weeks Jacobs will speak at high schools in Gauteng including the Mae Jemison US Science Reading Room in Mamelodi, Pretoria, a centre that is focused on promoting science education.

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