SKA Science Data Handling & Processing

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope will produce more raw data each day than the entire global internet traffic, and this project builds the computer system that will make sense of it. The SKA is a massive radio telescope under construction across South Africa and Australia. Its antennas will generate torrents of raw data that are useless without processing. This project funds the Science Data Processor (SDP)—the supercomputing system that will convert that raw data into calibrated images and catalogues, store them for decades, and deliver them to scientists worldwide. Without the SDP, the telescope would produce noise, not science. This is fundamental science infrastructure. The SDP is not a single computer but a distributed system of pipelines that must run reliably at extreme scale. The project covers construction, integration, testing, and commissioning of the hardware and software, plus the ongoing development of faster, more capable processing pipelines. If successful, the SDP will enable the SKA to map the universe in unprecedented detail—tracking galaxy formation, testing gravity, and searching for the first stars. There is no immediate practical application; the value lies in the fundamental discoveries this processing power will unlock.