The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) is at the forefront of France's contributions to the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO), the world's most ambitious radio telescope project. By engaging in big data processing and participating in SKA science working groups, CNRS is poised to deliver critical insights as a partner organisation in SPECTRUM.
The French participation in the SKAO is coordinated by SKA-France, a structure led by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). Dr. Chiara Ferrari, Director of SKA-France and Astronomer at the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (OCA), also serves as a member of SPECTRUM.
The SKA Project: A New Era in Radio Astronomy
Over the next decade, radio astronomy will join high-energy physics in entering the era of Exabyte-scale data processing for scientific research. At the forefront of new radio astronomy facilities is the SKAO - consisting of a low-frequency interferometer in Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara (meaning “Sharing sky and stars” in the Wajarri language) of Western Australia, and a mid-to-high frequency array of dishes in the Karoo desert of South Africa. HPC centres in Perth and Cape Town each host a Science Processing Centre (SPC) that will process the large volume of data coming off of the two telescopes, before transporting data products ready for the scientific analysis to the global SKA regional centres (SRCs). These regional centres will support the scientific community with proposal preparation, data processing and archiving of up to 700 PB of data per year during full operations.
CNRS's Role in the SKA Observatory
Over the past decade, the French astronomical community's growing interest in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project led to the French government's decision to join the SKA Observatory (SKAO). This strategic move was announced by President Emmanuel Macron during a state visit to South Africa in 2021.
Building upon decades of expertise in radio astronomy and hosting facilities such as the Nancay Radio Telescope, NenuFAR, and the French LOFAR station, the French community has actively contributed to the design and testing of the SKA Science Processing Centre (SPC) and the development of the SRC network (SRCNet). Additionally, French researchers are integral to all SKA Science Working Groups, preparing for the future scientific exploitation of the SKA Observatory.
These efforts underscore CNRS's commitment to advancing the scientific and technological frontiers of Radio Astronomy within the SKAO framework. The engagement in SPECTRUM underscores this ambition.
Image credit: OCA
"Our involvement in the SKAO project was strongly reinforced and boosted between 2018 and 2020 by the Public-Private Partnership Maison SKA-France”, says Dr. Ferrari, “Today, the SKA-France coordination oversees the French participation in this fantastic international project. In addition to the ever increasing interest of the astronomical community, the SKA technological challenges have stimulated the collaboration with research fields outside astronomy (e.g. computing, mathematics and signal processing) and with private and public players in key innovation areas, including low environmental impact computing and HPC and data centres, that are at the heart of the SPECTRUM project today”
Dr. Chiara Ferrari, Director of SKA-France