ASTERICS

Full Name
Astronomy ESFRRI & Research Infrastructure Cluster

Start Date:
2015-05-01

End Date:
2019-04-30

Duration:
48 months

Grant Agreement No. / Project Reference No.
653477

>Project Website
https://www.asterics2020.eu

ASTERICS (Astronomy ESFRI & Research Infrastructure Cluster) aims to address the cross-cutting synergies and
common challenges shared by the various Astronomy ESFRI facilities (SKA, CTA, KM3Net & E-ELT). It brings
together for the first time, the astronomy, astrophysics and particle astrophysics communities, in addition to other
related research infrastructures. The major objectives of ASTERICS are to support and accelerate the implementation
of the ESFRI telescopes, to enhance their performance beyond the current state-of-the-art, and to see them interoperate
as an integrated, multi-wavelength and multi-messenger facility. An important focal point is the management,
processing and scientific exploitation of the huge datasets the ESFRI facilities will generate. ASTERICS will seek
solutions to these problems outside of the traditional channels by directly engaging and collaborating with industry
and specialised SMEs. The various ESFRI pathfinders and precursors will present the perfect proving ground for
new methodologies and prototype systems. In addition, ASTERICS will enable astronomers from across the member
states to have broad access to the reduced data products of the ESFRI telescopes via a seamless interface to the Virtual
Observatory framework. This will massively increase the scientific impact of the telescopes, and greatly encourage
use (and re-use) of the data in new and novel ways, typically not foreseen in the original proposals. By demonstrating
cross-facility synchronicity, and by harmonising various policy aspects, ASTERICS will realise a distributed and
interoperable approach that ushers in a new multi-messenger era for astronomy. Through an active dissemination
programme, including direct engagement with all relevant stakeholders, and via the development of citizen scientist
mass participation experiments, ASTERICS has the ambition to be a flagship for the scientific, industrial and societal
impact ESFRI projects can deliver.

DESY Participation
WP 21

Contact at DESY
stefan.schlenstedt(at)DESY.de
tel.: +49-40-8998-7215