Summer 2022 AusSRC update

What a year!

As I’m sure many others in this newsletter will say, what a year it has been! The last six months has been a flurry of activity, with the successful completion of the AusSRC Design Study Program (DSP), Perth Astrofest, the SKA-Low construction commencement ceremony alongside the AusSRC Stakeholders event, and our end of year team wrap up.

Onto the next ten years

Off the back of the SKA-Low commencement of construction event in early December, the AusSRC hosted a Stakeholders Event the following day. Around 30 local, interstate and international guests joined us at the new interactive space at the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre.

An audience of women and men look on as a woman speaks from a podium with the AusSRC logo on the screen behind her. Behind the podium is a Christmas tree-shaped radio antenna model from the SKA-Low telescope.

The AusSRC Stakeholders event, 6 Dec 2022. Patricia Kelly, AusSRC Interim Board Chair, pictured opening the event. Credit: AusSRC.

The event was a chance for everyone to celebrate the successful conclusion of the 3-year AusSRC DSP, while looking forward to the next 10 years of the long-term program. The DSP Final Report, available on our website (pdf link), summarises the knowledge and technical experience accumulated by the team. This knowledge will be vital to develop and grow the global SRC Network as we build on our DSP experience.

Data rolling through

In October, AusSRC held its first ever Perth Astrofest stall, with an activity showing how data will flow from the SKA-Low in the Murchison to other SRCs around the world –  in the form of a marble race! One marble represented a standard sized laptop full of data, which thanks to the unpredictable nature of the Gravitrax marble race set, could be sent anywhere across the global data network.

Top-down view of a marble run over a map of the world demonstrating the flow of data from the SKA-Low telescope to astronomers globally.
Brightly dressed men and women stand behind a table with a screen displaying technical diagrams and a marble run over a map of the world demonstrating the flow of data from the SKA-Low telescope to astronomers globally.

Eyes would widen when visitors to the stall were told that the SKA would generate enough data to fill 1.2 million laptops! The activity was a hit and was a fantastic chance for our team to share what the AusSRC does and our role in the SKA project journey.

Holiday celebrations, ducks and all

Lastly, the team gathered in mid-December to celebrate the end of the year and the AusSRC’s achievements. In the spirit of ‘rubber duck debugging’, where if a software engineer encounters a coding problem, they are encouraged to talk out the problem to a rubber duck (yes, really), everyone received rubber duck Hawaiian shirts – last year it was duck socks. Time to start thinking of next year’s novelty duck item…

Men and women wearing brightly coloured yellow rubber duck print shirts standing with a decorated Christmas tree. All six people are excitedly pointing to two members of the team who are wearing yellow rubber duck printed socks.

From left to right: Karen Lee-Waddell, Dev Null, Kate Holmes, Dave Pallot, Austin Shen, and Gordon German at the AusSRC End of Year celebration. Credit: AusSRC.

Wishing you a safe and festive holiday season from all of us at the AusSRC.

Dr Karen Lee-Waddell, Director, AusSRC