The EXTRACT project unveiled a key innovation in radio astronomy data processing during a presentation to the OAEG4 expert group on virtual research environments (VREs) on 25 November 2025. Researchers Baptiste Cecconi and Stéphane Aicardi introduced a new distributed workflow orchestrator framework designed for the TASKA (Transients Astrophysics with an SKA Pathfinder) case, demonstrating advanced capabilities for processing radio astronomy data across multiple cloud infrastructures.
The presentation “EXTRACT-TASKA: A Distributed Workflow Orchestrator for Radio Astronomy Data Processing” and corresponding demos showed that a simple workflow for radio astronomy interferometric imaging can be run with this framework, using various cloud infrastructures. It was tested with a private cloud provider (OVH), as well as on academic cloud infrastructures (EGI/CESNET, EOSC EU Node, ObsParis local OKD cluster). A key highlight of the demonstration was its flexibility. The demonstration can run from a jupyter notebook (e.g., on the EOSC EU Node), and the processing is run remotely on the selected cloud infrastructure.
Two demos were shared with the group to illustrate the orchestrator’s capabilities:
- demo-eosc-eu-node.mp4: A demo running on the EOSC EU Node Jupyter Notebook service, with the actual data processing running on OVH.
- demo-okd-eosc.mp4: A demo running on a local laptop, with the actual data processing running on the EOSC EU Node cloud computing service (OKD instance).
The presentation and demos are available on zenodo.
Connecting Innovations Across EOSC VREs
The orchestrator presentation was part of a broader session focusing on the state of VREs within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) ecosystem. The sessions examined existing VREs developed through Horizon Europe EOSC-related projects, insights into how these environments are deployed and used by researchers and an examination of key challenges, emerging solutions, and development strategies shaping the next generation of VREs.
As the demand for scalable, accessible scientific computing grows, innovations like the EXTRACT project’s distributed orchestrator offer a promising advancement, supporting astronomers and data-intensive researchers across Europe.