Canadian Space Agency to use sophisticated supercomputing platform, created under a CANARIE-funded program, to help scientists understand the impact of the upper atmosphere on our planet

How do you know when you've got too much information? It's when you've got to manage a daily data stream equivalent to a stack of books thirty stories high. The solution? A sophisticated computing environment, known as the Canadian Space Science Data Portal (CSSDP) that will also save up to $1M worth of R&D time and effort.

The CSSDP will enable scientists to mine the vast amounts of data that will be generated by Canadian Space Agency (CSA) instruments when the CASSIOPE satellite is launched in 2011. The results will help shed light on space phenomena in the upper atmosphere which can be crucial here on earth, as space events can have an impact on radio communications, GPS navigation, and other space-based technologies.

"CSA has been using the high-bandwidth CANARIE network and now our scientists will benefit from CANARIE's foresight in supporting the development of solutions that help transform vast quantities of data into knowledge." notes Dr. Steve MacLean, President of the Canadian Space Agency. "This demonstrates the benefits of partnerships between agencies that are funded by the Federal Government."

"There is a need to evolve towards a more generic research environment which optimizes investments and accelerates research and innovation in Canada." notes Jim Roche, President and CEO of CANARIE. "CSSDP was created under CANARIE's Network Enabled Platform program, an initiative to evolve the research environment for areas as diverse as space, oceanography, health and even traffic management."

The CSSDP was a pan-Canadian effort by scientists and developers from several institutions including the University of Alberta, the University of Saskatchewan and the University of New Brunswick, with $1M in funding from CANARIE and $200K from Cybera, the organization that manages Alberta's high-speed, high-bandwidth advanced network. With an easy-to-use interface, the CSSDP allows scientists to source, analyze and exchange data, collaborate on common research challenges and ultimately increase their understanding of the world around us.

"The CSSDP project creates an opportunity to move towards standardization of space research, which will facilitate national and international collaboration," says Dr. Robert Rankin, Professor of Physics at the University of Alberta, and Principal Investigator of the CSSDP project. "None of this was possible prior to CANARIE's Network Enabled Platform program". Currently, over 350 scientists are registered to use the portal and take advantage of the speed and flexibility of the tools.