1. Building the Square Kilometer Array – a truly global project
Mary Fleming
Director Business Development
and International
AARNet - Australia
Building the Square Kilometer Array – a truly global project

2. International Research Networks

3. The TEIN Community CHINA HONGKONG INDIA SINGAPORE Mongolia Korea Japan
Guam
Japan
Mongolia
Korea
Taiwan
Philippines
Cambodia
Myanmar
Vietnam
Pakistan
Nepal
Bhutan
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
Indonesia
Malaysia
Thailand
Laos

4. ………and so what is the SKA?
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project is an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope, led by the SKA Organisation from Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK. The SKA will conduct transformational science to improve our understanding of the Universe and the laws of fundamental physics, monitoring the sky in unprecedented detail and mapping it hundreds of times faster than any current facility.
The SKA is not a single telescope, but a collection of telescopes or instruments, called an array, to be spread over long distances. The SKA is to be constructed in two phases: Phase 1 (called SKA1) in South Africa and Australia; Phase 2 (called SKA2) expanding into other African countries, with the component in Australia also being expanded.
Already supported by 11 member countries - Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom - the SKA Organisation has brought together some of world’s finest scientists, engineers and policy makers and more than 100 companies and research institutions across 20 countries in the design and development of the telescope. Construction of the SKA is set to start in 2018, with early science observations in 2020

5. ………and so what is the SKA?
One Project
Two Observatories in two Continents
Australia – Murchison WA
South Africa – Karoo
Three Telescopes
SKA Mid
SKA Survey
SKA Low
One Square Kilometre of Receiving Area
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project is an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope, led by the SKA Organisation from Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK. The SKA will conduct transformational science to improve our understanding of the Universe and the laws of fundamental physics, monitoring the sky in unprecedented detail and mapping it hundreds of times faster than any current facility.
The SKA is not a single telescope, but a collection of telescopes or instruments, called an array, to be spread over long distances. The SKA is to be constructed in two phases: Phase 1 (called SKA1) in South Africa and Australia; Phase 2 (called SKA2) expanding into other African countries, with the component in Australia also being expanded.
Already supported by 11 member countries - Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom - the SKA Organisation has brought together some of world’s finest scientists, engineers and policy makers and more than 100 companies and research institutions across 20 countries in the design and development of the telescope. Construction of the SKA is set to start in 2018, with early science observations in 2020

6. International effort in Signal and Data Transport
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO),
Australia Academic and Research Network (AARNet), Australia
University of Western Australia, Australia
Tsinghua University/ Peking University, China
National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) / Tata Consulting, India
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), The Netherlands
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE), The Netherlands
Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), Portugal
SKA South Africa
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), South Africa
Meraka Institute, CSIR, South Africa
EM Software and Systems (EMSS), South Africa
University of Granada, Spain
University of Manchester, UK
National Physical Laboratory (NPL), UK
DANTE, UK
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project is an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope, led by the SKA Organisation from Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK. The SKA will conduct transformational science to improve our understanding of the Universe and the laws of fundamental physics, monitoring the sky in unprecedented detail and mapping it hundreds of times faster than any current facility.
The SKA is not a single telescope, but a collection of telescopes or instruments, called an array, to be spread over long distances. The SKA is to be constructed in two phases: Phase 1 (called SKA1) in South Africa and Australia; Phase 2 (called SKA2) expanding into other African countries, with the component in Australia also being expanded.
Already supported by 11 member countries - Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom - the SKA Organisation has brought together some of world’s finest scientists, engineers and policy makers and more than 100 companies and research institutions across 20 countries in the design and development of the telescope. Construction of the SKA is set to start in 2018, with early science observations in 2020

7. Funded by international members
Australia
Canada
China
Germany
India, Italy
New Zealand
South Africa
Sweden
The Netherlands
United Kingdom
Already supported by 11 member countries - Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom - the SKA Organisation has brought together some of world’s finest scientists, engineers and policy makers and more than 100 companies and research institutions across 20 countries in the design and development of the telescope. Construction of the SKA is set to start in 2018, with early science observations in 2020.
Australia: Department of Industry
Canada: National Research Council
China: National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Germany: Federal Ministry of Education and Research
India: National Centre for Radio Astrophysics
Italy: National Institute for Astrophysics
New Zealand: Ministry of Economic Development
South Africa: National Research Foundation
Sweden: Onsala Space Observatory
The Netherlands: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
United Kingdom: Science and Technology Facilities Council
Note No USA
Led by the SKA Organisation from Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK

8. The data it will generate?
15 million 64GB ipods every day!
Lewis Ball, Director of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, Marsfield, Australia: "The management of big data is now a challenge faced by researchers worldwide. For example, once fully operational, our ASKAP telescope (one of the SKA precursor telescopes) will generate about five petabytes of data per year. Big computing resources will support this vital scientific research, expand capabilities and enable exciting new discoveries - not only for astronomy but also other data-intensive investigations right across the scientific spectrum."

9. or 960 Petabytes or almost an Exabyte every day
Pawsey Center Perth WA, Todays storage = 5 Pb image 5 of these every day

10. …but how to get that data?

11. AARNet’s role in building the SKA network
Geraldton
Radio quiet zones extend out to 260km from the Murchison Radioastronomy observatory.

12. 450kms of red dirt
450 kms of red dirt

13. ……rocks, and

14. and rain!
AARNet became the rain god.

15. The SKA and the network USA and World ASIA and Europe SKA Core
AARNet Network Existing and Future for raw data transport
Required New Zealand International Capacity for raw data transport
SKA remote stations
SKA Core Dishes
International R+E Capacity Existing
and Future for sharing Data and Results
SKA Core
Auckland
Pawsey Centre
Supercomputer

16. We ate the elephant a bite at a time…….

17. …and how to move it across vast distances
15 Europes

18. ……………or 12 Australia’s

19. SXTransPORT 100Gbps to the US

20. Costs for international capacity to support the SKA
One radio astronomy project with observatories with 3 instruments.
Most likely places for post compute is China, Europe, Eng Italy Germany and Netherlands also Canada not yet USA.
SA would do local processing in SA NZ in Australia
More likely to cross correlate the data from Australia with the Hubble than the SA data.

21. Being at the bottom of the world has certain advantages – network connectivity is not one…..