Happy birthday, DPAC!
Thursday, 16 June, 2016
It’s been ten years since the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) formally started its activities, with the formation of the DPAC Executive and the completion of the transfer of the data processing preparations from the Gaia community working groups to the DPAC Coordination Units (CUs).
The DPAC grew up out of the Gaia community working groups that were active already since June 2001 meeting at ESTEC, which was aimed at organizing the astronomical community to prepare for the Gaia mission. It has been quite a ride since then: from proposal to requirements, to simulations and software development, to operations rehearsals, Gaia commissioning, DPAC operations, and soon the first Gaia Data Release (DR1)!
The Consortium currently consists of some 450 astronomers, software engineers, and project-management specialists, from about 25, mostly European, countries. The data processing takes place on hardware spread around six Data Processing Centres (DPCs) in Europe.
