Operations: Murchison radio astronomy observatory and Geraldton support

The Murchison radio astronomy observatory (MRO) will provide ongoing support for non-ASKAP international and national projects that will enhance the international recognition of MRO.

They will allow ICRAR to earn a greater scientific return and use enhanced opportunities for its  other research.

As well as this ICRAR will: 

• provide assistance in establishing aspects of the SKA site in Australia (in particular Western Australia), including but not limited to the MRO
• play an active operational role in the long baseline (high spatial resolution) and high time resolution capabilities of ASKAP
• access the MRO in order to deploy small demonstration instruments resulting from key ICRAR engineering development programs
• provide national and international access to ASKAP data
• support operational activities for MRO projects in Geraldton.

ICRAR's Operations Program will define ongoing commitments in these areas.

Operational support for MRO and Geraldton projects

ICRAR will provide management and local logistics support to a suite of experiments on the MRO to assist in the extraction of maximum scientific knowledge from these instruments as early as possible in their operations.

This suite includes the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP), the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), PAPER, CORE and EDGES. These projects are international or national in scope and funding and ICRAR staff are already collaborating strongly as part of these teams.

ICRAR's investments in large projects connected to the MRO will focus on three areas:

1. The salaries for personnel involved in the management, construction and commissioning of instruments at the MRO and the management, construction and commissioning of facilities in Geraldton. As this is an intensive activity in a remote location, distinct and dedicated management and technical skill sets are required.
2. Investment in the logistics of maintaining a presence at the MRO and in Geraldton, including the costs of travel to sites and accommodation for personnel undertaking deployments.
3. Strategic positioning of ICRAR in terms of future developments on the MRO and in Geraldton, including any opportunities that may arise from the US decadal planning process in astronomy.

The technical team supporting the MRO and Geraldton activities will connect strongly to the ICRAR staff involved in the science being undertaken with these instruments. An intimate connection between the technology development and the science program development ensures a maximally effective, efficient and productive Centre.

Operations in Geraldton

The suite of large projects being deployed to the MRO will have a primary support base in Geraldton, at an operational facility under construction by the CSIRO.

ICRAR is expected to have a significant presence in Geraldton, following the evolution of the ASKAP and MWA projects, in particular.

Since the scope of the Geraldton presence for ASKAP and CSIRO is not yet fully defined, the scope of ICRAR participation cannot be judged with 100 per cent certainty at the outset of ICRAR operations.

Initially the only ICRAR staff member in Geraldton will be an Aboriginal liaison officer, employed on behalf of Curtin University of Technology and seconded to the CSIRO.This staff member will be supported by ICRAR funds and will play a pivotal role connecting to the indigenous stakeholders in the region.

Other ICRAR activity in Geraldton will be defined as time goes on and the operational requirements of ASKAP and MWA, in particular, become better understood.

Operational support for ASKAP

The ASKAP project provides a unique opportunity for the centre to develop operational systems in partnership with CSIRO. These systems will enable the end-to-end operation of ASKAP and the management of its data flow through to the point of data product delivery to the national and international community.

The ASKAP system can provide a complete prototype for SKA operations. The centre can help facilitate CSIRO’s science operations and user community support roles for ASKAP.