The Consortium

The development of a new space astrometry mission will require a large team of scientist, software developers and spacecraft engineers. Many lessons can be learned from the Gaia mission where DPAC (the Data Processing and Analysis Consortium) was responsible for the processing of Gaia's data and producing the Gaia Catalogue. In a similar manner a new DPAC consortium will be formed. 

The first task of the new consortium will be to coordinate a proposal team to ensure that the science cases outlined in the Voyage 2050 white paper are put on a firmer footing, taking into account the synergies with other missions such a Euclid, small, JASMINE and the Rubin observatories. Such a proposal will require end-to-end simulations to optimise the science return from different detector choices and photometry filter bands, to identify engineering requirements on the spacecraft and assess detector performance.

It is envisioned that similar structures to DPACE will be used and, to begin with, there will be an overlap with people from Gaia. The consortiums task will be to provide the data processing algorithms, the corresponding software, and the IT infrastructure to support the mission and produce the astrometric and photometric catalogues. However, given the long timescales involved in developing such a mission it is very important to bring in the next generation of astrometers. Research and training networks will be a key part of developing this new consortium to ensure there is sufficient expertise available until 2060 to analyse and produce the final catalogue.