Summary

The 3rd Swiss SKA Days, co-organized by the Institute for Data Science and EPFL, took place at the FHNW School of Engineering in Brugg-Windisch on June 11 and 12. Participatnts included Catherine Cesarsky (Board Director of the SKA project) and other SKA representatives from around the globe. They met with Swiss government representatives, industrial organizations and scientists from the major Swiss Universities to discuss risks and opportunities related to the ambitious SKA radio-astronomy project – a global endeavour at the edges of advanced technology and computing.

For the first time, interested Swiss companies were invited to consider potential involvement not only in the construction of the observatory but also in the managment of the huge amount of data expected.

SKA stands for Square Kilometre Array. The project is an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope, with eventually over a square kilometre (one million square metres) of collecting area.

Later this year, SKA is about to become an Inter-Governmental Organisation (alike CERN, ESA, ESO) with a plan to build in the next years two major interferometric radio observatory located in South Africa and Western Australian. Switzerland has currently an observer position in the SKA project and is considering from 2021 on a participation as a SKA member.

Link to the official SKA website

Link to the SKA website at EPFL

Media coverage

Astronomen werben für eine Schweizer Beteiligung an einem interkontinentalen Radioteleskop 

Article in German describing the project and Swiss research interest in th elarge research infrastructure.
Neue Zürcher Zeitung NZZ, June 16

Mit Machine Learning den Weltraum verstehen  

Article in German about a student at the Institute of Data Science involved in Machine Learning for SKA.
Newsletter FHNW School of Engineering, June 28

Some impressions

Agenda

Monday June 11, 2018

Tuesday June 12, 2018

Keynote Speakers

• Catherine Cesarsky (SKA, Chair of the Board, F)
• Xavier Reymond (SERI, CH)
• Fernando Camilo (MeerKat, Chief Scientist, SA)
• Chiara Ferrari (OCA, France)
• Claudio Gheller (CSCS, CH)
• Paul Hurley (IBM-Zurich, CH)
• Baerbel Koribalski (CSIRO, ASKAP, PI of Wallaby, AUS)
• Isabella Prandoni (INAF, It)
• Alexandre Refregier (ETHZ, CH)
• Oleg Smirnov (SKA, SA)
• Tom Oosterloo (ASTRON, PI of Apertif, NL)

Venue

The venue is hosted by the Institute for Data Science FHNW, at the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, or University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. It is located in the Campus Brugg-Windisch. The meeting will be in Building 1, at the Address Klosterzelgstrasse 2, 5210 Windisch.

Getting there by air:
The two closest airports are Zurich Airport (ZRH) and Basel Euroairport (BSL).

Getting there by public transportation:
The building is a 3-minute walk away from the Brugg train station. (Windisch is adjacent to the city of Brugg – these 2 cities merged long time ago.) The station name is BRUGG AG. There are many trains. Train schedules and advance ticket purchase can be found at: www.rail.ch.

The Brugg railway station is located ~40 minutes from the station at Zurich Airport, ~30 minutes from Zurich Central Station (Hauptbahnhof, HB). There is a direct train from Zurich airport, but you can also take any connection to Zurich HB and change there.

From Basel Euroairport, you need to take a bus first to Basel Central Station, then there is a direct train every 30 minutes. The trip will take you about an hour.

Getting there by car:
There is parking in the building, but it tends to fill up early, so you may want to plan with the two alternative parkings: https://goo.gl/maps/Xj2X5fP1xJ22 and https://goo.gl/maps/XxkqGWXEG7x

Accommodation

Lodging in Brugg is simple and expensive for what it offers, but it is clean, safe and walking distance to the meeting. There is a *** hotel across the street from the railway station, called Hotel Terminus.

Hotel Terminus

If you are ready to dive into a special countryside experience, there are two options, but be prepared that personnel might not be speaking English: Rotes Haus, Hotel Gotthard

Hotel Rotes Haus

Hotel Gotthard

A recommendable lodging place is Gästehaus Alice Brugg but it has only a few rooms.

Gästehaus Alice

The city of Baden, which is a 7 minutes train ride from Brugg, has better hotels. From Baden station, you can walk to the Blue City Hotel, the Trafo Hotel, or the Hotel Du Parc. The Atrium Hotel Blume is a bit further away but very nice.

Of course, all hotels in Zurich are good options if you are not impressed by a 30 minutes commute.

If you need any further assistance, please contact Hanna Troxler, our administrative assistant, and we can help you: ‭+41 56 202 74 52, hanna.troxler(at)fhnw.ch.