29/05/2025 – The SKAO, a balcony to the Universe with its heart on Earth 05/29/2025 – SKAO, a balcony to the Universe with its heart on Earth, is the title of a public talk in the Lucas Lara lecture series, which will take place on Thursday, May 29 at 7:00 p.m. in the IAA-CSIC Auditorium, Granada, Spain.
The speaker is Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro, who has coordinated Spanish participation in this project since its inception. This is a great opportunity to learn how a large astronomical observational facility, with unprecedented sensitivity and complexity, is conceived, built, and organised. Also, to learn about the construction of these telescopes in remote regions of South Africa and Australia.
In this talk, we'll learn about the latest developments and Spain's participation in the project. We'll also learn about the status of the SKA International Network of Regional Centres, for which one node is being developed in Spain. These centres are essential for the community to access the vast amount of data the telescopes will generate and to benefit from tools, technical support, and specialised training.
From this point on, we will open a window to the lesser-known dimensions of SKAO: the challenge of interference caused by mega-satellite constellations, cooperation with Africa and Indigenous tribes in Australia, Open Science, respect for the environment, and the creation of opportunities beyond science. This is an invitation to observe the Universe with the most advanced technology... and with your feet firmly on the ground.
02/08/2024 – More than 630 participants gathered in Granada to discuss the latest developments in astronomy. The SKA project was extensively discussed, with key presentations on its technological and scientific capabilities, underlining the importance of Spanish collaboration in this global research infrastructure.
From July 15th to 19th, the XVI Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA, for its acronym in Spanish) was held in Granada, with a record attendance of over 630 participants and more than 400 scientific talks. During this meeting, the latest scientific and technological advances in astronomy and the Spanish participation in major projects and research infrastructures were shared. Among these, the SKA project played a prominent role, as it was the subject of the inaugural plenary lecture, a special session, and also featured in another plenary and talks in various parallel sessions.
Inaugural plenary lecture “Science with SKA: the mother of all radio telescopes” by Miguel Pérez-Torres (IAA-CSIC)
In the inaugural talk, Miguel Pérez-Torres (IAA-CSIC) discussed the capabilities of SKAO telescopes and the scientific research that can be conducted with them, encouraging all attendees to become part of the SKA community by participating in the Science Working Groups. This talk can be watched in full on the SEA's YouTube channel (link). The special session on SKA focused on the latest developments at the SKA Observatory and its international network of Regional Centres (SRCNet), addressing topics such as: the timeline for the construction of SKAO telescopes, updates on scientific cases, the SKA Science Conference to be held in June 2025, the tools already available to the community, the services offered by the Spanish prototype of SKA Regional Centre at IAA-CSIC (espSRC), and the launch of the first functional version of the SRCNet in early 2025.
Julián Garrido (IAA-CSIC) and Javier Moldón (IAA-CSIC) during the special session on SKA
The plenary talks on the second day included a presentation by Vanessa Graber (University of Hertfordshire). In this talk, she summarised the work she conducted at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) on pulsars and long-period radio transients, highlighting observations made with the Murchison Widefield Array, one of the SKAO precursors in Australia. This talk can also be viewed on the SEA's YouTube channel (link).
In the parallel sessions, the SKA project was also discussed from the scientific, technological and science communication aspects. The invited talks by Susana Sánchez (IAA-CSIC) and Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro (IAA-CSIC) were particularly focused on the SKA project. Susana Sánchez discussed Spain's contribution to SRCNet and the TED4SKA project, which aims to reduce the energy consumption of SKA Regional Centres. Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro provided a review of the study of galaxies and their environments using HI observations with SKA precursors and pathfinders. También se presentaron otras tres charlas sobre observaciones con precursores y pathfinders de SKA: Jacobo Asorey (UCM) habló sobre Cosmología con surveys de ASKAP, Roger Ianjamasimanana (IAA-CSIC) presentó un trabajo sobre el gas en grupos compactos de Hickson realizado con observaciones de MeerKAT y Shane O’Sullivan (UCM) sobre observaciones del medio intergaláctico magnetizado realizadas en los surveys LOTSS de LOFAR y POSSUM de ASKAP. In the instrumentation and supercomputing session, Ixaka Labadie (IAA-CSIC) presented his research on remote and interactive visualisation of spectral data cubes implemented in the espSRC, which is already being applied to MeerKAT data, a SKA precursor telescope. In a different area, Marcos Villaverde (IAA-CSIC) spoke in the session dedicated to education, outreach, and heritage about the outreach initiatives carried out by SKAO and the role of Open Science in dissemination. It is also worth mentioning a poster by David Alonso-López (UCM) on work conducted within the POSSUM-ASKAP collaboration concerning the magnetised gas in the Shapley supercluster
In addition to all this, SKAO and its telescopes were featured in other talks as a reference for the future. All of this reflects the Spanish community's interest in the SKA project and its science.
From left to right and from top to bottom: Shane O’Sullivan (UCM), Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro (IAA-CSIC), Vanessa Graber (University of Hertfordshire / ICE-CSIC), Ixaka Labadie (IAA-CSIC), Susana Sánchez (IAA-CSIC), Marcos Villaverde (IAA-CSIC) and Roger Ianjamasimanana (IAA-CSIC)
22/06/2023 – The emerging era of Big Data is demanding a transformation in the way science is done via a growing push to make scientific research more accessible, a movement known as 'Open Science'. To explore what this means in practice for researchers, the first SKA Open Science School took place in Granada, Spain, from 8-10 May 2023, bringing together 80 participants from 14 countries.
The IAA-CSIC Severo Ochoa Open Science school at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia was organised as a fully hybrid meeting,
with around 50% of its participants attending online. Credit: IAA-CSIC
The hybrid school was endorsed by the SKA Regional Centre partner training programme and co-organised with the SKAO under the IAA-CSIC Severo Ochoa Programme.
Participants ranged from graduate students looking for tips on making their thesis work reproducible (making tools and techniques public so that others – and even the original researchers themselves – can achieve the same results later), to the already Open Science-savvy wanting to learn practical tools. Instructors discussed transitions in science practices with accompanying challenges, and presented practical solutions, including hands-on demos. They covered topics on how to make projects/code portable throughout new versions of software, how to best use containers and science platforms, virtual observatories, setting up citizen science projects, licenses, and more.
Discussions continued between sessions on how to change habits that give quick, publishable results (the “publish-or-perish” mentality) and instead invest the time needed for long-term open and reproducible science, including how Open Science work can be appreciated by employers. As Prof. Eva Mendez of Charles III University of Madrid (UC3M) asked: “Are we prepared for a new research evaluation?”
SKAO Scientist Dr Philippa Hartley shared the new SKAO statement on Open Science, including its mission and what Open Science will do for the SKA, and the IAA’s Dr Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro, coordinator of the Spanish participation in the SKA, noted that “large scientific infrastructures have an ethical role and a practical need in Open Science”.
Sessions from the Open Science school are publicly available
on the school webpage.
05/04/2023 – The Spanish contribution to the project, which amounts to 41.4 million euros until 2030, will allow Spanish companies to participate in contracts of high technological value for the construction of this scientific infrastructure. The Institute de Astrophysics de Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) is responsible for the technical coordination of the Spanish participation in the project.
The Council of Ministers has approved this Tuesday the accession of Spain as a full member of the SKA Observatory (SKAO), an intergovernmental organisation that is building two complementary world-class radiotelescopes that will constitute one of the largest and most ambitious scientific infrastructures on the planet.
The initial construction phase of the SKAO telescopes, covering the period from 2021 to 2030, will cost a total of 2,022 million euros. Spain will contribute a total of 41.4 million euros to this phase of the project, of which 7.9 million euros have already been paid between 2021 and 2022 (5.1 million euros from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan). In 2023, €2.5 million from the national budget is foreseen.
The formalisation of Spain's incorporation into the SKAO as a full member now allows Spanish companies to participate in the contracts for the construction of the two radiotelescopes, thanks to the principle of return that applies in this international organisation.
The participation of Spanish companies in at least five SKAO construction contracts is currently guaranteed. Spain will be responsible, for example, for the manufacture of the sub-reflectors (secondary mirrors) for the parabolic antennas and the production of the equipment for the time synchronisation of the radiotelescope receivers.
Spanish industry will thus increase its expertise in the many cutting-edge technologies and big data techniques that are indispensable for the operation of the SKAO and that are being developed specifically for this unique project.
Moreover, thanks to this adhesion, Spanish scientists will be able to carry out pioneering radio astronomical observations at the front line, which are destined to lead to transformational discoveries in the study of the universe.
"We are really grateful for the support of our SKAO colleagues over the years. It has been amazing to have reached this point, and we have thoroughly enjoyed the journey to get there working together with the Ministry, the CDTI and the astronomy community. Now we can move forward with even more challenging and exciting activities as part of the SKAO", declare Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro (IAA-CSIC), coordinator of the Spanish participation in SKAO.
SKAO telescopes: two innovative and revolutionary radiotelescopes
During the current construction phase, the member states of this intergovernmental organisation will agree on the contributions and the construction schedule for the next phase of the project.
The SKAO radio telescopes will consist of two arrays of hundreds of thousands of antennas of different types. The first array, dedicated to low-frequency antennas, will be located in the Murchison district of Western Australia, while the second, dedicated to medium and high frequencies, will be distributed in the Karoo Desert of South Africa.
When completed, the SKAO telescopes will be a colossal observatory: they will have tens of times the sensitivity, and thousands of times the observing speed, of the best radio astronomical facilities available today, and their performance will not be surpassed by any other radiotelescope for decades.
In addition to the scientific and technological challenges it will overcome, SKAO also faces an organisational and management challenge that is being addressed through close intergovernmental cooperation on a global scale, cooperation that will serve as a model for other large multinational projects.
Spain's participation in the SKA
Spain has been working on the design and preparatory tasks of the project since the 1990s together with the states that have already ratified the agreement establishing the SKAO - Australia, China, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Switzerland - and those that are in the process of ratifying it - Germany, Canada, South Korea, France, India, Japan and Sweden.
The technical coordination of the Spanish participation in the project is the responsibility of the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), which belongs to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spanish National Research Council), an agency of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, whose main role is to organise the national scientific community for its participation in the project.
There are currently astrophysicists from Spain involved in almost all the SKA science working teams, as well as in other groups, such as the energy supply options or the coordination of the regional centres.
25/05/2022 – The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will enable progress to be made in the search for signs of life in the galaxy and in the observation of pulsars, black holes and gravitational waves. The technical coordination of the Spanish participation in the project is carried out by the Institute de Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC)
The Council of Ministers has approved this Tuesday the agreements by which the Ministry of Science and Innovation will allocate 2.5 million euros to the international radiotelescope Square Kilometre Array (SKA), of which 0.7 million euros will come from the European funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and will be devoted to the development of its instrumentation.
The SKA radiotelescope will consist of hundreds of thousands of antennas of different types, spread over different locations, ranging from the Karoo Desert in South Africa, which will host the core of high and medium frequency dishes, to the Murchison Shire in Australia, which will host the low frequency antennas.
The SKA will be thousands of times faster at observing the sky than the best radioastronomy facilities today and will enable astronomers to make sky observations in great detail, exceeding the image resolution quality of the Hubble space telescope by several orders of magnitude.
In this way, the SKA radio telescope will make ground-breaking contributions to astrophysics, astrobiology, fundamental physics, geophysics and geodesy. Among other functionalities, it will enable progress to be made in the search for signs of life in the galaxy and the observation of pulsars, black holes and gravitational waves.
Spain's participation in SKA
Our country has been participating in SKA since 2011 and has expressed its interest in participating as a full partner in the SKA observatory which, under the legal form of an international body, will be the entity responsible for carrying out the construction of the world's largest radiotelescope.
Part of the amount approved on Tuesday will be recognised by SKA as part of the agreed contribution with which Spain will become a full member.
The technical coordination of the Spanish participation in the project is the responsibility of the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), which belongs to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spanish National Research Council), an agency of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, whose main role is to organise the national scientific community for its participation in the project.
At present, astrophysicists from Spain are involved in almost all the science working teams of the SKA, as well as in other groups, such as the energy supply options or the coordination of the regional centres. In addition, a representative of the CDTI has been appointed to encourage Spanish industrial participation in SKA developments.
El proyecto ESCAPE engloba algunas de las mayores infraestructuras científicas mundiales en astronomía y física de partículas, para el desarrollo de una única plataforma digital para el uso abierto de datos.
Financiado con dieciséis millones de euros por la Unión Europea a través del programa Horizonte 2020, supone un esfuerzo único hacia la Ciencia Abierta.
El Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC) contribuye al desarrollo de la “Plataforma de análisis científico”, por su papel fundamental en que la infraestructura astronómica Square Kilometre Array (SKA), sea un referente en metodología científica.
SKA fue identificado como Proyecto de Referencia en el Foro Estratégico Europeo sobre Infraestructuras de Investigación (ESFRI, por sus siglas en inglés) en 2016. Esta figura muestra las infraestructuras científicas ESFRI en astronomía, astropartículas y física de partículas que conforman el grupo de ESCAPE. En sentido de las agujas del reloj, de arriba abajo: ELT, CTA, FAIR, KM3NeT, EST, HL-LHC, SKA.
Las grandes infraestructuras europeas de astrofísica y de física de partículas se unen en el proyecto ESCAPE, que creará un Observatorio Virtual extendido a los dominios de la física solar, la física de partículas y las astropartículas. El proyecto responde así a un reto internacional que combina la gestión de las enormes cantidades de datos que producen proyectos como el LHC (Gran Colisionador de Hadrones) o el radiotelescopio SKA (Square Kilometre Array) con su disponibilidad en abierto para que la Nube de Ciencia Europea Abierta (EOSC) se haga realidad: una única plataforma que permita acceder, utilizar y analizar todos los datos científicos disponibles.
“El nombre ESCAPE fue elegido porque nuestra colaboración pretende dejar que los datos salgan de su confinamiento. Por primera vez, varias de las mayores instalaciones europeas en física y astronomía unen sus fuerzas para hacer que sus datos y software estén abiertos e interoperables. Es un gran hito para la investigación europea”, apunta Giovanni Lamanna, investigador del Laboratorio de Annecy de Física de Partículas (LAPP) e investigador principal del proyecto ESCAPE.
“Estamos viviendo un momento crucial, con el desarrollo de instrumentos cada vez más complejos, que producen enormes cantidades de datos y que requieren de software cada vez más especializado. En nuestro esfuerzo por ser mas eficientes en extraer conocimiento de dichos datos, corremos el riesgo de olvidarnos de la reproducibilidad de los resultados. Solo si somos capaces de cambiar la forma en que trabajamos los científicos podremos mejorar la calidad de la Ciencia, y el proyecto ESCAPE busca ofrecer soluciones, herramientas y servicios para ello”, señala Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro, investigadora del Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC) que participa en el proyecto y que lidera la participación de España en el proyecto SKA.
El cosmos en abierto
Se espera un aluvión de datos en los próximos años gracias a las infraestructuras priorizadas en la hoja de ruta del Foro Europeo de Estrategia de Infraestructuras de Investigación (ESFRI, del inglés) entre las que destaca SKA, que constituirá la mayor infraestructura científica del mundo, el Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), el Telescopio Solar Europeo (EST), o el Telescopio Extremadamente Grande (ELT) y en misiones de la Agencia Espacial Europea como PLATO, que caracterizará los planetas orbitando en estrellas de nuestro entorno. En todas ellas participa el IAA, siendo objeto de su contribución a ESCAPE tanto SKA como PLATO.
La financiación asignada de dieciséis millones de euros contribuirá a que las principales infraestructuras de investigación europeas trabajen juntas para encontrar soluciones comunes a sus desafíos a nivel de datos, interoperabilidad y acceso a los mismos, así como para acentuar la apertura de la investigación fundamental a toda la comunidad internacional, desde profesionales hasta el público general.
La astronomía multimensaje (observaciones coordinadas de señales astrofísicas dispares) y la física de partículas con aceleradores son dos pilares del proyecto ESCAPE. A través de la combinación de investigación experimental de los dos extremos, desde las estructuras a gran escala en el universo observable hasta las partículas fundamentales, los proyectos relacionados con la astronomía y las instalaciones de física de partículas abrirán juntas nuevos caminos en el conocimiento del universo.
ESCAPE extenderá el concepto de observatorio astronómico virtual a la física solar, la física de partículas y las astropartículas. El proyecto explotará la dilatada experiencia de la comunidad de física de partículas y astrofísica en cálculo a gran escala y gestión de datos, construyendo nuevas herramientas para gestionar la avalancha de datos que producirá la nueva generación de instalaciones, creando una base de datos gigante con un tamaño superior a varios exabytes y federando centros de datos nacionales y regionales.
Se construirá una nueva plataforma de análisis científico, de manera que los usuarios de la Nube Europea de Ciencia Abierta puedan seleccionar software existente y utilizar el suyo propio, aprovechándose del potencial de la computación de alto rendimiento. Finalmente, ESCAPE creará un nuevo repositorio de software abierto para maximizar la reutilización y el desarrollo conjunto de software, identificar estándares abiertos para publicación de software e investigar herramientas de extracción de datos y nuevas técnicas de análisis. El plan de trabajo de ESCAPE hará también énfasis en la formación: el objetivo es atraer y educar a jóvenes científicos en ciencia abierta y administración de datos, utilizando las últimas herramientas y metodologías.
Participación del IAA-CSIC
El paquete de trabajo en el que participa el Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC) “, se centra en la definición e implementación de la “Plataforma de análisis de ciencia ESFRI”, que servirá para el análisis de datos de acceso abierto en el entorno de la Nube Europea de Ciencia Abierta. “El IAA-CSIC contribuirá a crear una plataforma que dé apoyo a los investigadores en la creación de métodos reproducibles, mejorando así la manera de compartir, no solo los datos, sino también los métodos científicos -explica Lourdes Verdes-Montengro (IAA-CSIC), coordinadora de la participación de España en SKA -. Es un momento clave, al coincidir con el inicio de la creación de un centro regional piloto para SKA en el IAA, asociado a su acreditación como Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa. Como coordinadora del desarrollo considero fundamental seguir los principios de Ciencia Abierta, y por tanto la transversalidad con otras líneas desarrolladas en el centro, como la participación en la misión espacial PLATO.
Forman parte de este consorcio proyectos ESFRI como el Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), el Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), el Telescopio Solar Europeo (EST), el Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe (FAIR), el High Luminosity-Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), el Cubic-kilometre-sized Neutrino Telescope (KM3NeT) y el Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Dos organizaciones paneuropeas, la European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) y el European Southern Observatory (ESO), también son miembros de la agrupación ESCAPE. El European Virtual Observatory (EURO-VO) también está comprometido de manera activa con el proyecto. ESCAPE engloba otros observatorios astronómicos de primera línea mundial, tales como los operados por ESO (APEX ALMA, los observatorios de Paranal y La Silla), infraestructuras de investigación tales como el European Gravitational-Wave Observatory (EGO-Virgo) y el Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC (JIV-ERIC).
Lista completa de miembros de ESCAPE
(señalados en negrita los miembros españoles del proyecto)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), ASTRON, CWI and NIKHEF institutes of the Stichting Nederlandse Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Instituten (NWO-I), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen- Nürnberg (FAU), European Southern Observatory (ESO), The Square Kilometre Array Organization (SKA), Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe (FAIR GMBH), Koninklijke Sterrenwacht van Belgie (ORB), Università degli Studi di Roma Torvergata (UNITOV), Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), Istituto Nazionale d’Astrofisica (INAF), Instituto de Fisica de Altas Energias (IFAE), Stiftung Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften EV (MPG), Stiftung Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik (KIS), Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg (UHEI), GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung Gmbh (GSI), The University of Edinburgh (UEDIN), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry, a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (JIV-ERIC), European Gravitational Observatory / Osservatorio Gravitazionale Europeo (EGO), The Open University (OU), Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial Esteban Terradas (INTA), HITS GGMBH (HITS), Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory GGMBH (CTAO GGMBH), Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RUG), Surfsara BV, TRUST-IT Services (TRUST-IT), OROBIX Srl (OROBIX).
Sobre SKA
El proyecto Square Kilometre Array (SKA) es un esfuerzo internacional para construir el radiotelescopio más grande del mundo, liderado por la Organización de SKA, situada en el Observatorio de Jodrell Bank, cerca de Manchester. El SKA llevará a cabo ciencia transformacional para mejorar nuestro entendimiento del Universo y las leyes fundamentales de la física, observando el cielo con un detalle sin precedente y trazando un mapa celeste cientos de veces más rápido que cualquier instalación actual.
El SKA no es un único telescopio, sino una colección de telescopios, llamados array (conjunto), distribuidos a lo largo de grandes distancias. El SKA se construirá en Australia y Sudáfrica, expandiéndose después por ambos países y por los continentes de África y Oceanía.
Con el apoyo de 12 países (Australia, Canadá China, España, Francia, India, Italia, Nueva Zelanda, Sudáfrica, Suecia, Países Bajos y Reino Unido), la Organización de SKA ha reunido en el diseño y desarrollo del telescopio a algunos de los mejores científicos, ingenieros y responsables políticos del mundo y a más de 100 empresas e instituciones de investigación.
