The MRT is located in the Bras d'Eau forest in rocky north-eastern part of the island (lat. 20.14^0 S , long 57.73^0 E). The original idea of a southern sky survey at a frequency of 150 MHz was put forward by Prof Ch. V. Sastry of the IIA. Prof Sastry and V.Radhakrishna of RRI came to visit Mauritius in 1987 for setting up the telescope . The setting up of the MRT is a joint project of the University of Mauritius, RRI and IIA   The construction was completed in 1992 and the telescope has been operational since then. The receiver system was donated by Prof W.C. Erikson from the defunct Clark Lake Observatory from University of Maryland in the USA. The antenna system was designed and built in India.

At present there are 17 people related to MRT daily work. We have carried out three rounds of observations for the survey. Processing of the 20,000 hours of observation for the final survey is under progress. A high resolution map has also been made. The MRT is presently being upgraded.

As a result of the project, 7 PhD's, 2 MPhil and numerous BSc projects have been completed. Several engineers and technicians have been trained. Several research articles have been published. In 1997 a conference on low frequency radio astronomy was organised by the MRT. MRT was a major contributor to the UN/ESA 2002 conference held in Mauritius Numerous visitors, both local and foreign, have come to MRT.

MRT Correlator room