Astronomy

"Space and earth science are drivers of technical development, and with better instruments and more computing power we hope to realise many more ideas in the future," says Eskil Varenius from the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at Chalmers University of Technology.

The Square Kilometre Array, or SKA, is the biggest science project New Zealand has ever been involved in, and it will produce more data than the world has ever seen.

Japanese researchers – together with colleagues from around the world – are analysing data from the Joint ALMA Observatory, located in a remote part of Chile on the Atacama plateau, 5000 meters above sea level. High-speed research networks enable researchers to carry out their studies wherever they are situated, without needing to be at the observatory.

Stuart Weston collects data observed by the Warkworth radio telescope and shares it with scientists who use it to run their own experiments without needing to be at the telescope.

More than 20 countries are present in Ny-Ålesund in the Arctic, operating their own research facilities. The most northerly fibre optic cable system in the world has been installed to ensure that the massive amounts of data produced there can be transferred ”live” to global research networks.

Launched in April 2015, the first Chilean Virtual Observatory (ChiVO) is an astro-informatic platform for the administration and analysis of massive data coming from the observatories built across the country. Its implementation will provide advanced computing tools and research algorithms to the Chilean astronomical community.

The scale of the SKA represents a huge leap forward in engineering, telescope design and research & development towards building and delivering a unique instrument.