The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) project reduces the barriers for the research community to discover, download and use both public and proprietary data.
We have enabled almost 20 petabytes (PB) of MWA data which is publicly available to both national and international astronomy researchers. This is one of the largest publicly available datasets in global science. The process of developing the ASVO MWA project has also provided vital experience towards the implementation of a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) regional data centre.
Start date
12 January 2018
Expected completion date
31 March 2020
Investment by ARDC
$625,000
Co-investment partners
NeCTAR (now ARDC)
Research Data Services (now ARDC)
Lead node

1
Enabled a calibration solution to data provided by the ASVO MWA node
This new feature greatly reduced the barriers to entry for astronomers who have no experience working with the MWA telescope, as they can now download a calibrated data set and then use any common radio astronomy software to analyse the data to produce science products like spectra and images.
2
Interface to distributed storage
Implemented a VOSpace which is the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA) interface to distributed storage.
3
Authentication/authorisation interface
Enables users to sign in using their own institution (utilising the Australian Access Federation (AAF) and eduGAIN). MWA members are also able to access proprietary data.
4
Advanced administration interface
This advanced interface allowed for the management of jobs and users.
5
Intergalactic Medium (IGM) science module.
6
New galaxy formation model
Implemented new galaxy formation model utilising the new infrastructure and IGM module.Tiamat/Meraxes are now selectable datasets in the TAO5 UI.
Core features

Access to data
Public access to nearly 20 PB of Murchison Widefield Array data

Access control to data
Individual and group level access control to data through a single unified interface

Pre-processing of data
Enhanced pre-processing of the data by including on-the-fly calibration.
Who is this project for?
National and international astronomy researchers
What does this project enable?
Almost 20 PB of MWA data is publicly available to both national and international astronomy researchers.
Handy resources



NeCTAR (now ARDC)

Research Data Services (now ARDC)


