Brenda Marie Rivers
A National Science Foundation-managed observatory has chosen Google to provide an interim cloud environment that will host astronomical data ahead of the telescope’s scheduled commencement of operations in 2023.
Vera C. Rubin Observatory and Google signed a three-year agreement that would allow Google Cloud to host the former’s Interim Data Facility which will include pre-survey information ahead of the observatory’s 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time survey, Google said Monday.
The Cerro Pachon, Chile-based observatory plans to use Google Cloud to support the web-based Rubin Science Platform that will provide user previews of the LSST effort.
LSST is envisioned to gather 500 petabytes of data and imagery to support research into the Milky Way, hazardous asteroids, dark matter, the remote solar system and the transient optical sky.
Mike Daniels, vice president for global public sector, Google Cloud, said the company will work to provide flexibility, scale and speed through its cloud offering to address the “growing appetite for data†in astronomical research.
Rubin Observatory will use Google's Kubernetes Engine, cloud storage, compute and collaborative workspace tools as part of the agreement. IDF is slated to become accessible to the science community late next year.
NSF, the Department of Energy and LSST Corp. provide funding for the telescope.
