A Virtual Observatory for Space Situational Awareness Bob

A Virtual Observatory for Space Situational Awareness? Bob Mann University of Edinburgh

International Virtual Observatory Alliance (www. ivoa. net)

Multiwavelength astronomy � Different wavelengths probe different physical processes Need all the data to understand all the physics � Data from different missions/telescopes reside in different data centres Leave data in the care of those who understand it best � Multiwavelength data fusion M 51 (23 million light years away) requires a distributed system

Observational data types � Observations characterized by coverage and sampling in (time, space, wavelength)* Temporal Native data types � Images Data cubes � Spectra � Time series � Much analysis is done Spatial with derived tabular datasets for objects (position, time, flux, etc) Spectral * plus polarization, in some cases Similar for SSA data?

Virtual Observatory standards Tables Images SIA TAP VOSI Model data VOSI Registry Sim. DAL VOSI Data access protocols

Virtual Observatory standards Tables Images SIA TAP VOSI Model data VOSI Registry Sim. DAL VOSI Services discoverable via Registry using metadata

Virtual Observatory standards Tables Images SIA TAP VOSI Model data VOSI Registry Sim. DAL VOSI Standard support interface (availability, etc)

Similarities and differences ASTRONOMY SSA � Many data providers � Distributed data resources � (Space, time, frequency) � Need to combine data � No commercial value or � Commercial value and security issues Most data in open archives security issues Choose what to share and with whom

Virtual Observatory status �Comprehensive set of standards New projects (e. g. LSST) building VO in from start Some protocols better exercised than others ▪ Mostly implemented on open datasets, but Single Sign. On and Credential Delegation standards exist �Implemented using web services REST-ful services now; many SOAP originally Written by professionals, not grad students ▪ But nobody dies or gets sued over astronomy data “There is no Red. Hat for the Virtual Observatory”

Questions about this analogy �What have I missed? �Can a similar interoperable picture be presented using existing SSA standards (Astriagraph, CCSDS, SDA, UDL, etc)? �Is this analogy worth exploring further? Could VO standards & tools – or the ideas underpinning them – be useful for SSA?

Two possible next steps PAPER EXERCISE PRACTICAL EXERCISE � Identify use cases for � Identify a few test datasets sharing and analysis of SSA data to support STM � Walk through scenarios mapping activities onto existing IVOA standards � Look for gaps and an example analysis � Publish datasets using VO standards and try running analysis with existing astronomy tools Both exercises would need collaboration between VO and SSA data experts.