ASTRON

In SPECTRUM, ASTRON contributes as Radio Astronomy domain expert community.

NWO-I contributes through ASTRON, its Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy. ASTRON’s mission is to make discoveries in RA happen, via the development of novel and innovative technologies, the operation of world class RA facilities, and the pursuit of fundamental astronomical research. ASTRON designed, built, and now operates the International LOFAR Telescope (a recognized Pathfinder for the SKA). It has developed and is responsible for rolling out and bringing to operation the LOFAR2.0 upgrade, and for coordinating the ILT partner organisations in the development and operation of the supporting pipelines and digital services that will make LOFAR2.0 data accessible to the scientific community.

ASTRON was a major contributor to the design of the SKA, and is now participating in the construction of both hardware and software systems that will form part of the SKA Observatory. The current chair of the SKA Regional Centres Steering Committee is a member of ASTRON staff, while development of the Netherlands SKA Regional Centre and the Dutch contribution to SRC Network development is coordinated by ASTRON. ASTRON was the lead institute for ESCAPE Project Work Package 5 (ESFRI Science Analysis Platform). In addition to its technical expertise, ASTRON is home to a dynamic and active RA science group.

This provides focus and drive to deliver practical solutions that have immediate and high-impact results for the scientific community. In summary, to this project ASTRON brings a wealth of technical and development expertise in RA, including both LOFAR and SKA; experience in operating major RA facilities; and a practising scientific research community.