UK SKA Regional Centre (UKSRC) Cloud Infrastructure Digital Assets 2023-2026

The UK Square Kilometre Array Regional Centre is building a cloud-based digital infrastructure to handle the torrent of data from the world’s largest radio telescope. The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will generate more data than any previous telescope—enough to fill millions of standard hard drives every year. UK astronomers currently lack the computing and storage capacity to process this flood. This project fills that gap by creating a dedicated UK node within a global network of SKA Regional Centres. The centre will produce Azimuth, a cloud portal that configures science platforms, along with secure cloud storage, hardware, and networking. If successful, the UKSRC will give UK scientists direct access to SKA data without relying on overseas infrastructure. This matters because the SKA is designed to answer fundamental questions about the universe—how the first galaxies formed, the nature of dark energy, and the origins of cosmic magnetism. The cloud tools and storage systems built here could also be adapted for other data-intensive fields, such as climate modelling or genomics, but the primary purpose is to enable fundamental astronomy.