Gaia-CU9 2019-2024 (Bristol element)

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While the primary motivation for Gaia is to revolutionise our understanding of the Universe, Gaia is also a software and technology mission. Gaia UK technology development has two aspects. Industrial developments, for example of new classes of CCDs, ESA-funded at e2v, are already proving of wider importance, have earned the UK the Euclid contract, and are generating other new international markets. Precision control systems, and on-board real-time image processing systems (Astrium Stevenage) are intended to be applied much more widely. There are many ESA-UK industry-UK academic partnerships built on Gaia. The first Gaia data releases have underpinned significant outreach activities. The Gaia data are the basis for a range of deep learning investigations, and are being used in PhD training programmes, for instance the STFC-funded CDT network in Cambridge.

The majority of development, however, involves fast and complex processing of large data volumes, and the development of tools to allow fast public access to huge and heavily-structured data sets. This naturally builds on and expands the Big Data and Virtual Observatory developments of late. The Cambridge developments in very large database systems (Spark/Hadoop) have been adopted mission-wide, illustrating one more area of technical leadership. Gaia is the next "big beast" in data volumes, with Gaia learning experience showing applications to astronomy (Euclid/PLATO) and wider implications for science and aspects of the digital economy. Big Data problems generically involve gathering subsets of the data for further exploration and visualising those data in some fashion. The techniques already in use in TOPCAT provide some important software approaches, and the developments to be driven by this work will be applicable in other fields, for example visualising remote sensing data monitoring crop rotation, relevant to areas such as the STFC Food network.