Data from the collapsed Arecibo radio telescope are being securely moved and protected to the Texas Advanced Computing Center of UT Austin. A multi-institutional collaboration formed to securely move over 3 petabytes of information from 50 years of Arecibo sky scans. The information have actually assisted researchers make Nobel-prize-winning discoveries about the paradises. This information move will guarantee future generations of astronomers a chance to make brand-new discoveries from Arecibo’s information. Credit: Arecibo Observatory
The Arecibo Observatory, UCF, TACC, the University of Puerto Rico, EPOC, Globus, CICoE Pilot partner to move telescope information to Ranch system.
Millions of individuals have actually seen video of the renowned Arecibo radio telescope’s collapse in December 2020. What they would not have actually seen from those videos was Arecibo’s information center, situated outside the threat zone. It shops the ‘golden copy’ of the telescope’s information — the initial tapes, hard disk drives, and drive of sky scans because the 1960s.
Now, a brand-new collaboration will make certain that about 3 petabytes, or 3,000 terabytes, of telescope information is firmly supported off-site and made available to astronomers worldwide, who will have the ability to utilize it to continue Arecibo Observatory’s tradition of discovery and development.
Working Together
Within weeks of Arecibo’s collapse, the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) participated in an arrangement with the University of Central Florida (UCF), the Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC), the Arecibo Observatory, the Cyberinfrastructure Center of Excellence Pilot (CICoE Pilot), and Globus at the University of Chicago. Together, they’re moving the Arecibo radio telescope information to TACC’s Ranch, a long-lasting information mass storage system. Plans consist of broadening access to over 50 years of astronomy information from the Arecibo Observatory, which up till 2016 had actually been the world’s biggest radio telescope.
“I’m thrilled that UT Austin will become the home of the data repository for one of the most important telescopes of the past half-century,” stated Dan Jaffe, Interim Executive Vice President and Provost of The University of Texas at Austin.
TACC’s Ranch supercomputer, a long-lasting information mass storage system, is securely maintaining over 3 petabytes of information from the Arecibo radio telescope. Ranch is an assigned resource of the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) moneyed by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Credit: TACC
“As a young radio astronomer, I saw Arecibo as an amazing symbol of the commitment of our country to the science I loved,” Jaffe stated. “Arecibo made important contributions across many fields — studies of planets, setting the scale for the expansion of the universe, understanding the clouds from which stars form, to name a few. Preserving these data and making them available for further study will allow Arecibo’s legacy to have an ongoing impact on my field.”
“Arecibo data has led to hundreds of discoveries over the last 50 years,” stated Francisco Cordova, Director of the Arecibo Observatory. “Preserving it, and most importantly, making it available to researchers and students worldwide will undoubtedly help continue the legacy of the facility for decades to come. With advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence tools available now, and in the future, the data provides opportunity for even more discoveries and understanding of recently discovered physical phenomena.”
NSF Vision
Since 2018, UCF has actually led the consortium that handles the Arecibo Observatory, which is owned and moneyed by the National Science Foundation (NSF). EPOC, a partnership in between Indiana University and the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) moneyed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science (SC) and handled by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, had itself partnered with UCF in profiling their clinical information motion activities a year prior to the collapse.
A couple of members of the group that came together to move Arecibo’s information. (Clockwise, upper delegated right) Nathaniel Mendoza (TACC), Ewa Deelman (CI CoE Pilot), Julio Alvarado (Arecibo Observatory), Hans Addleman (EPOC), Jason Zurawski (EPOC). (Credit: TACC, CI CoE Pilot, Arecibo Observatory, EPOC). Credit: TACC
“NSF is committed to supporting Arecibo Observatory as a vital scientific, educational, and cultural center, and part of that will be making sure that the vast amounts of data collected by the telescope continue to drive discovery,” states NSF Program Officer Alison B. Peck. “We’re gratified to see that this partnership will not only safely store copies of Arecibo Observatory’s data but also provide enhanced levels of access for current and future generations of astronomers.”
The information storage belongs to the continuous efforts at Arecibo Observatory to tidy up particles from the 305-meter telescope’s 900-heap instrument platform and resume staying facilities. NSF is supporting a June 2021 workshop that will concentrate on actionable methods to assistance Arecibo Observatory’s future and develop chances for clinical, academic, and cultural activities.
Sense of Urgency
“The collapse of the Arecibo Observatory platform certainly raised a sense of urgency within our team,” stated Julio Alvarado, Big Data Program Manager at Arecibo. The Big Data group was currently dealing with a tactical strategy for their Data Management and Cloud programs. Those strategies needed to be focused on and performed with extraordinary seriousness and value. The tradition of the observatory depended on the information kept for the over 1,700 tasks going back to the 1960’s.
Alvarado’s group connected to UCF’s Office of Research for aid, which linked Arecibo to 2 NSF-funded cyberinfrastructure tasks, EPOC led by Principal Investigators Jennifer Schopf and Dave Jent from Indiana University, and Jason Zurawski from ESnet; and the Cyberinfrastructure Center of Excellence Pilot (CICoE Pilot) led by Ewa Deelman of the University of Southern California.
“We got involved when the University of Central Florida noted they were having challenges in trying to identify a new data storage location off of the island, and were struggling with the demands of efficiently moving that data,” stated Jason Zurawski, Science Engagement Engineer of ESnet and Co-PI of the EPOC job.
Data Migration
“Migrating the entire Arecibo data set, well over a petabyte in size, would take many months or even years if done inefficiently, but could take only weeks with proper hardware, software, and configurations,” stated Hans Addleman, the Principal Network Systems Engineer for EPOC. The EPOC group supplied the facilities abilities and resources that assisted Arecibo style their information transfer structure utilizing the current research study tools and knowledge. The CICoE Pilot group is assisting Arecibo examine their information storage options and create their future information management and stewardship experience in order to make Arecibo’s information quickly available to the clinical neighborhood.
“Arecibo is an amazing project that has enabled astronomers, planetary scientists, and atmospheric scientists to collect and analyze extremely valuable scientific data over many decades,” stated Ewa Deelman, Research Director at the USC Information Sciences Institute, and PI of the CI CoE Pilot job.
“The CI CoE Pilot project is very excited to be working with Arecibo, EPOC, TACC, and Globus members in this community effort, making sure the precious data is preserved and made easily findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). Recently, we have also reached out to members of the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA), and in particular Bruce Berriman (Caltech/IPAC-NExScI, Vice-Chair of the IVOA Executive Committee) to explore Arecibo’s data role in the international community. The collaboration formed around and with Arecibo shows how NSF-funded projects can come together, amplify each other’s efforts and have an impact on the international scientific community,” Deelman included.
CI CoE Pilot contributes knowledge in a variety of locations covering the Arecibo information lifecycle, consisting of information archiving (Angela Murillo, Indiana University), identity management (Josh Drake, IU), semantic innovations (Chuck Vardeman, University of Notre Dame), visualization (Valerio Pascucci and Steve Petruzza, University of Utah), and workflow management (Mats Rynge, and Karan Vahi, USC). The CI CoE Pilot effort is collaborated by Wendy Whitcup (USC).
As an outcome of Arecibo’s restricted Internet connection, the University of Puerto Rico and Engine-4, a non-profit coworking area and lab, are adding to the information transfer procedure by enabling Arecibo to share their Internet facilities. Further, the irreplaceable nature of the information needed an option that would ensure information stability while making the most of transfer speed. This encouraged making use of Globus, a platform for research study information management established and run by the University of Chicago.
The Transfer
The information transfer procedure began mid-January 2021. Arecibo’s information landscape includes 3 primary sources: information in hard disk drives; information in tape library; and information offsite. The archive holds over one petabyte of information in hard disk drives and over 2 petabytes of information in tapes. This information consists of details from countless observing sessions, comparable to enjoying 120 years of HD video.
Currently, information is being moved from Arecibo hard disk drives to TACC’s Ranch system, just recently updated to broaden its storage abilities to an exabyte, or 1,000 petabytes. Ranch upgrades integrate a DDN SFA14K DCR block storage system with a Quantum Scalar i6000 tape library.
Over 52,000 users archive their information from all aspects of science, from the subatomic to the cosmic. Ranch is an assigned resource of the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) moneyed by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
“Further phases will copy the Arecibo tape library to hard drives and then to TACC, and a later phase will copy data from offsite locations to TACC,” Alvarado stated.
To protect and ensure connection to the clinical neighborhood, Arecibo’s information is being copied to storage gadgets, which are then provided to the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez and to the Engine-4 centers for upload. This makes sure that the research study neighborhood continues to gain access to and carry out research study with the existing information. This information migration is performed in coordination with Arecibo’s IT department, led by Arun Venkataraman.
Given time restraints and constraints in the networking facilities linking the observatory, speed, security, and dependability were essential to efficiently moving the information.
The Globus service dealt with these requirements, while likewise offering a way to keep track of the transfers and instantly recuperate from any short-term mistakes. This was needed to lessen the opportunity of losing or damaging the important information gathered by the telescope in its 50+ years of service.
The Globus service made it possible for the UCF and ESNet groups to firmly and dependably relocation 12 TBs (define) of information daily. “Seeing the impact that our services can have on preserving the legacy of a storied observatory such as Arecibo is truly gratifying”, stated Rachana Ananthakrishnan, Globus executive director at the University of Chicago.
The information travel over the AMPATH Internet exchange point that links the University of Puerto Rico to Miami. It then utilizes Internet2 and the LEARN network in Texas to get to TACC in Austin.
Arecibo’s Data Legacy
The information were gathered from Arecibo’s 1,000 foot (305 meter) repaired round radio/radar telescope. Its frequency abilities vary from 50 megahertz to 11 ghz. Transmitters consist of an S-band (2,380 megahertz) radar system for planetary research studies; a 430 megahertz radar system for climatic science research studies; and a heating center for ionospheric research study.
Past accomplishments made with Arecibo consist of the discovery of the very first binary pulsar, a discover that evaluated Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity and made its originators a Nobel Prize in 1993; the very first radar maps of the Venusian surface area and polar ice on Mercury; and the very first world discovered outside our planetary system.
“The data is priceless,” Alvarado stressed. Arecibo’s information consists of a range of huge, climatic, and planetary observations dating to the 1960s that can’t be duplicated.
“While some of the data led to major discoveries over the years, there are reams of data that have yet to be analyzed and could very likely yield more discoveries. Arecibo’s plan is to work with TACC to provide researchers access to the data and the tools necessary to easily retrieve data to continue the science mission at Arecibo,” he stated.
The Arecibo IT and Big Data groups supervise of the information throughout the migration stages of the job, which doesn’t permit public gain access to. As the migration and information management efforts advances, the information will be provided to the research study neighborhood.
Arecibo, TACC, EPOC, CICoE Pilot, and Globus will continue to deal with structure tools, procedures, and structure to support the constant gain access to and analysis of the information to the research study neighborhood. The information will be kept at TACC briefly, supporting Arecibo’s objective of offering open access to the information. Arecibo will continue to deal with the groups on the style and advancement of an irreversible storage option.
