Project Description
CSIC4SKA – SKAO, The journey to build a mega-sciencie projetc
Period: 2024-06-01 – 2026-05-31
The SKA Observatory (SKAO) will become operational at the end of 2029, with early science starting in 2027. Spain officially joined SKAO in 2023. CSIC, represented by IAA, coordinates the Spanish participation, with 38 researchers from 6 CSIC centres contributing to 11 out of the 14 SKA Science Working Groups (SWGs).
SKAO’s data will be distributed to an international network of SKA Regional Centers (SRCs), the SRCNet. These SRCs, funded regionally (separate from the SKAO budget), will offer access to SKAO data products (~700 Petabytes/year), computational and storage resources, and scientific analysis support. Collaborating with SKAO, SRC initiatives from 17 countries are jointly developing the SRCNet. In 2019, IAA initiated the development of a Spanish SRC prototype (espSRC), with a fully functional computing platform since 2021. The first operational version of the SRCNet v0.1 is expected when the first group of SKAO antennas are installed in 2025. SRCNet development will align with the preparation of SKA Key Science Projects (KSPs) between 2027 and 2029. The IAA group has played a leadership role in coordinating the efforts from three countries (Sweden, Switzerland and Spain) to build a federated prototype of the SRCNet.
“CSIC4SKA” project aims to equip CSIC community for the KSPs with a toolset for simulating SKA observations of astronomical objects of interest at the espSRC. The astronomers will “see” those targets and catalogues with SKA “eyes”. Community analysis software will be gathered according to the Open Science principles. The espSRC will be one of 9 international nodes integrated into SRCNet v0.1. Therefore, a timely aspect of CSIC4SKA will be exploring partnerships with national computing service providers. Technical interfaces and organisational models to integrate HPC resources with the espSRC will be assessed.
CSIC4SKA will leverage CSIC’s expertise to consolidate its position in SKA during the pivotal period of KSP establishment and SRCNet development.
More information: https://www.skao.int/en/explore/construction-journey