Gridin Astron

Grid Usage for Astronomy and Earth Observation within ESA: Session 1
time: 14:15 - 16:15 Chair:

Summary
Context:
The European Space Agency has recently embarked on several activities to

use the Grid within Astronomy and Earth Observation Communities. The
major objectives of these projects have been threefold:
1. Provide access to large amounts of data from different sources
2. Provide a collaborative environment for the development and later

maintenance of algorithms to process satellite data
3. Setup a high-performance infrastructure to allow large data simulations
To this extent, the astronomical mission Gaia, which is due to be launched in

2011, was considered a potential candidate, due to the large effort that will be
required by the scientific community to process the data. Twenty scientific
institutes across Europe will be involved in the next seven years to prepare
all the data processing algorithms. The mission will determine the positions
of about 1 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy down to the micro
arcsecond precision and will provide a 3D mapping of the Galaxy, including
the radial velocity of some 150,000 stars to provide a dynamic view of the
Galaxy.
Large simulations are carried out today to take into consideration all aspects
of the instruments on-board, the telemetry stream and the different laws of
physics that will effect Gaia observations.
In the field of Earth Observation, the acquisition of data from the Envisat
mission and the provision of data products from its various instruments
provides an unprecedented challenge for the community. In order to cross-
correlate this data with other products from other missions and to offer
various applications, from agriculture to environmental alerts requires high
performance processing as well as high-speed network links.
Short History
In order to better understand present and future computational requirements,

ESA initiated the SpaceGrid study (2001-2003). Its main objectives were to
propose a common infrastructure for the multiple disciplines in ESA:
• to assess how GRID technology can serve requirements across a large

variety of space disciplines (spacecraft mechanical engineering, space
weather, space science, earth observation
• to foster collaboration and enable shared efforts across space applications
• to sketch the design of an ESA-wide (and common) infrastructure
• to demonstrate proof of concept through prototyping
Usage of Grid for Earth Observation purposes was studied by ESA and other
parties within the framework of WP9 of the DataGrid project. After project
closure ESA has continued its Grid R&D activities to demonstrate the use of
Grid for Earth Observation in the project ‘Grid-on-Demand’. Furthermore,
dedicate Grid clusters have been installed at ESRIN and ESTEC premises.
Current situation
Within the GAIA project ESA currently uses the GridAssist platform,
developed by Dutch Space, as the main vehicle to develop, test and share the
Gaia Shell algorithms. A workflow tool, based on the OpenSource Globus
protocol, GridAssist coordinates all Gaia’s computational resources and
provides uniform access to all the algorithms.
Within THE VOICE project Dutch Space is responsible for the realization of
a prototype that will support e-Colloboration within the widely distributed
ENVISAT Validation community. Grid technology will be deployed to
support computational and collaboration tasks within this community.
The Diligent project, in which ESA participates, aims to integrate Digital

Library and Grid technology to create a test-bed system for e-Science, based
on the system infrastructure created for the EC's currently running follow-up
to DataGrid, called Enabling Grids for E-science in Europe (EGEE).
Future
Grid computing and collaboration is expected to form an important

contribution to the European Global Monitoring for the Environment and
Security (GMES) program.
In the scientific domain, other future missions having similar requirements to

Gaia may adopt a similar approach to GaiaGrid computing.
We foresee a further integration of technologies is needed to support future

needs. Computational Grids, Web Services, Virtual Observatories, Semantic
Webs, Sensor Webs need to be combined to result into working solutions
satisfying the emerging user demands.
Program:
1. Introduction: HPC and Collaboration Needs from Astronomical & Earth

Observation Communities [Salim Ansari, ESA-ESTEC]
2. Grid projects – an overview @ESA [Luigi Fusco or Joost van Bemmelen,

ESA-ESRIN]
• SpaceGrid
• Grid-on-Demand
• THE VOICE
• Diligent
• Infrastructure
3. GaiaGrid, a mission simulation of the Gaia satellite [Salim Ansari, ESA-

ESTEC]
4. GridAssist - Develop Locally, Compute And Collaborate Globally [Dutch

Space]
5. Demonstration: Grid processing of GAIA mission simulation [ESA &

Dutch Space]
6. e-Collaboration: Grids to Support Instrument Calibration and Validation

[Dutch Space]
7. Brainstorm session: Towards Future Needs and Supporting Technologies

in Astronomy and Earth Observation
Presentations will be short. Demonstrations are intended to be “life” and
interactive. With the brainstorm session we expect to generate ideas and
contacts for further research collaborations.

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Grid Usage for Astronomy and Earth Observation within ESA: Session 1

time: 14:15 - 16:15 Chair:

The European Space Agency has recently embarked on several activities to

1. Provide access to large amounts of data from different sources

2. Provide a collaborative environment for the development and later

3. Setup a high-performance infrastructure to allow large data simulations

To this extent, the astronomical mission Gaia, which is due to be launched in

In order to better understand present and future computational requirements,

• to assess how GRID technology can serve requirements across a large

• to foster collaboration and enable shared efforts across space applications

• to sketch the design of an ESA-wide (and common) infrastructure

• to demonstrate proof of concept through prototyping

The Diligent project, in which ESA participates, aims to integrate Digital

Grid computing and collaboration is expected to form an important

In the scientific domain, other future missions having similar requirements to

We foresee a further integration of technologies is needed to support future

1. Introduction: HPC and Collaboration Needs from Astronomical & Earth

2. Grid projects – an overview @ESA [Luigi Fusco or Joost van Bemmelen,

3. GaiaGrid, a mission simulation of the Gaia satellite [Salim Ansari, ESA-

4. GridAssist - Develop Locally, Compute And Collaborate Globally [Dutch

5. Demonstration: Grid processing of GAIA mission simulation [ESA &

6. e-Collaboration: Grids to Support Instrument Calibration and Validation

7. Brainstorm session: Towards Future Needs and Supporting Technologies

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