LSST Science Platform Evaluation

TVS Task Force

Work Plan

Members

Chair, Spokesperson: Sara Bonito

Rachel Street, LCO
Raffaella Margutti, Northwestern University
Kelly Hambleton, Villanova University
Melissa Graham, University of Washington/LSST
Maryam Modjaz, New York University
Somayeh Khakpash, Lehigh University
Claudia M. Raiteri, INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino
Filippo D'Ammando, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)
Barbara Balmaverde, INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino / SNS-Scuola Normale
Maria Isabel Carnerero Martin, INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino
Massimo Dall'Ora, INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte
Ilaria Musella, INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte
Maria Ida Moretti, INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte
Nicholas Rattenbury, University of Auckland
Massimo Brescia

Context

The LSST Science Platform (LSP) is envisioned as an online portal by which most users will access LSST data products, aside from the alert brokers, since the size and scale of those products is likely to prohibit users downloading large subsets for analysis at their local institutes.

The LSP platform consists of three aspects, fully described in LDM-542:

  • The Portal aspect, designed to enable browsing and interactive visualization of data products
  • The Notebook aspect, which provides a JupyterLab notebook environment for users to run software-based investigations
  • The API aspect, which enables users to query the LSP remotely and programmatically

All of these aspects are accessed through the user's browser window, so no software needs to be installed on the user's machine.

LSST Project are currently using the LSP for commissioning activities, but relatively few researchers currently have access for scientific use, owing to personnel limitations in supporting users and transitioning the LSP for external use. The Project expect to make the platform accessible to the community later in 2020-2021.

Task Force (TF) Goals

Nevertheless, it is advantageous for science users to evaluate the LSP as soon as possible. The goals of this Task Force are, therefore:

  • Gain familiarity with the LSP, and share this knowledge with the rest of TVS
  • Understand what TVS users will need from the LSP and evaluate whether the current design will provide it
  • Report on the Stack Club

Work Plan and Deliverables

  • Review the LSP design documents available
  • Develop a detailed questionnaire designed to identify the software and data products needed by TVS science, and circulate it.
  • Review all sections of the TVS Roadmap to identify the implied software requirements for the analysis outlined.
  • Update the TVS Roadmap to reflect any software and/or data products that need to be developed to perform the scientific analyses.
  • Report TVS' users requirements for the LSP to the LSST Development team.