New WA capability to lead space data analysis
Western Australia’s Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, in partnership with the Curtin University-based WA Data Science Innovation Hub (WADSIH), has been awarded more than $2 million in Federal and State Government funding to establish a new national space data analysis facility in Perth.
The Australian Space Data Analysis Facility (ASDAF) will support researchers and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) with space data analytics and expertise to benefit industries including agriculture, mining, emergency services and maritime surveillance.
Located at Pawsey, one of Australia’s two Tier 1 high-performance computing and data research facilities, the new facility builds on WA’s expertise in data analytics.
Mark Stickells, Pawsey’s Executive Director, acknowledged the support of both Federal and State governments to launch the ASDAF, with Pawsey receiving $1.5million from the Australian Space Agency’s Space Infrastructure Fund and a further $750,000 from the WA government.
The new facility aims to increase the likelihood of commercialisation success by connecting and leveraging existing national and state-based computing and data resources and seeking to lower the cost and risk of exploratory and novel use of space data for organisations and researchers.
Pawsey will host the infrastructure, working with data custodians to manage and provide access to data products.
The WA Data Science Innovation Hub will advise on data analytics best practice, how to develop in-house capability, and how to use data to grow business. In its first phase, the new facility will hold a series of industry and stakeholder virtual roundtables to establish the key requirements and inform the design of the centre’s programs of work.
The Pawsey Supercomputing Centre in Perth is an unincorporated joint venture between Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, and Western Australia’s four public universities supported by the WA and Federal governments. CSIRO manages Pawsey as a national research facility available to the broader science community.