{"id":25556,"date":"2025-09-16T09:49:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T09:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/25556\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T09:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T09:49:11","slug":"information-collected-by-the-worlds-largest-radio-telescope-will-be-stored-and-processed-by-global-data-centres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/25556\/","title":{"rendered":"Information collected by the world\u2019s largest radio telescope will be stored and processed by global data centres"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Observatory goes online later this decade<\/a>, it will create one of science\u2019s biggest data challenges. The SKA Observatory is a global radio telescope project built in the Southern Hemisphere. There, views of our Milky Way are clearest and the SKA\u2019s remote sites limit human-made radio interference<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The project spans two sites: approximately 131,000 Christmas-tree-shaped antennas in western Australia and 200 large dish antennas in the Karoo region of South Africa. As part of this international collaboration, Canada has established a data-processing centre at the University of Victoria<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read more:
\n Canada’s participation in the world’s largest radio telescope means new opportunities in research and innovation<\/a><\/p>\n

The SKA Observatory will produce around 600 petabytes<\/a> of data each year. That amount would take 200 years to download using an at-home internet connection of 100 megabytes per second. <\/p>\n

This data volume exceeds by a significant margin even what is produced by the Large Hadron Collider<\/a>, often considered to be the world\u2019s premier big data science project<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Research aims<\/p>\n

Among its many science goals<\/a>, the SKA detects faint radio signals emitted during the Cosmic Dawn<\/a>, roughly 50 million to one billion years after the Big Bang, when the very first stars and galaxies lit up the universe. <\/p>\n

The SKA will also test Albert Einstein\u2019s theory of general relativity<\/a> by timing signals from pulsars (rapidly spinning neutron stars) with high accuracy. <\/p>\n

Another goal is understanding fast radio bursts<\/a> \u2013 brief, intense radio pulses from distant sources. The SKA is expected to detect fast radio bursts far more frequently than current instruments, providing a large dataset to help determine their cause, building on work done by facilities like Canada\u2019s CHIME telescope<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Initial data from the SKA is expected in 2027, with the start of major science operations in 2029 as the array is built and commissioned in phases.<\/p>\n

\"an<\/a><\/p>\n

The first image from an early working version of the SKA Observatory\u2019s SKA-Low telescope, which is currently under construction in western Australia.
\n (SKAO)<\/a>, CC BY<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s role<\/p>\n

Handling the large volume and complexity of SKA data requires a global network of specialized computing facilities, collectively known as SKA Regional Centres (SRCs). <\/p>\n

Canada became a member of the SKA Observatory research project<\/a> in 2024. Shortly after joining, Canada committed to establishing one such centre. <\/p>\n

The Canadian SRC (CanSRC) will be the sole SRC in the Americas, serving as an important node for processing, storing and providing streamlined access to SKA data. It will allow researchers to focus on scientific analysis rather than data management hurdles.<\/p>\n

Big Astronomy<\/p>\n

The SKA is part of astronomy\u2019s ongoing evolution toward \u201cBig Science<\/a>,\u201d where international collaboration becomes essential for scientific breakthroughs. This large-scale approach not only changes how science is funded, but also how it is conducted. <\/p>\n

While the SKA will still accommodate traditional investigator-led proposals \u2014 where individual scientists or small teams request specific telescope time and computational resources for more focused projects \u2014 most of its observing power will target ambitious, multi-year projects designed by large international teams.<\/p>\n

Canadian researchers participate in all of the SKA Science Working Groups<\/a> and have co-chaired four of them in recent years. Canada is recognized as a world leader in studies of pulsars, cosmic magnetism and transients<\/a>, as well as in low-frequency cosmology, areas where the SKA will make some of its most transformative discoveries. <\/p>\n

\"a<\/a><\/p>\n

The centre of our Milky Way galaxy as seen by MeerKAT, a South African radio telescope that will become part of the SKA.
\n (South African Radio Astronomy Observatory)<\/a>, CC BY<\/a><\/p>\n

Astronomical data management<\/p>\n

Building, developing and managing CanSRC requires collaboration among the National Research Council\u2019s Canadian Astronomy Data Centre<\/a>, with four decades of experience in astronomical data management; the Digital Research Alliance of Canada<\/a>, offering high-performance computing resources; CANARIE<\/a>, operating the high-speed research network for data transfer; and the University of Victoria\u2019s Arbutus cloud platform<\/a>, supplying the scalable infrastructure. <\/p>\n

The project leverages expertise concentrated within the University of Victoria\u2019s Astronomy Research Centre<\/a>, which brings together researchers from the University of Victoria, the National Research Council Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre and TRIUMF, Canada\u2019s national particle accelerator centre.<\/p>\n

Importantly, CanSRC ensures that researchers have access to SKA data. The capabilities developed through CanSRC will strengthen Canada\u2019s digital ecosystem for the future.<\/p>\n

Digital discovery<\/p>\n

CanSRC will serve as a gateway for developing and expanding the use of advanced data methods and algorithms, helping scientists from research and industry sectors harness massive datasets.<\/p>\n

Applications of these techniques extend far beyond astronomy, with potential uses in medical imaging<\/a>, remote sensing and artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Observatory goes online later this decade, it will create one of science\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-25556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}