We are glad to announce that we have extended service level agreements with Open Universe and OBSEA.

Open Universe is an Italian science initiative with the objective of stimulating an increase in the utilisation of space science data (e.g. astrophysics, planetary science, etc.), extending the potential of scientific discovery to new participants all over the world. A wide range of communities will benefit from Open Universe: professional scientists, citizen scientists, teachers and students.

OBSEA is an underwater cabled observatory deployed in 2009. This seafloor observatory is located 4 km off the Catalan Vilanova i la Geltru coast in a fishing protected area. It is connected to the coast by an energy and communications mixed cable. The main advantages of a cabled observatory are that it provides an uninterrupted power supply to the scientific instruments and offers a high bandwidth communication link. This way, real time data is available and problems encountered in battery powered systems are avoided.

The service level agreements have been extended until May 2021.

Giuseppe La Rocca, who oversees the agreement processes, says: “I’m very happy about the extension of these agreements, it’s great to see EGI fostering long-term collaborations and our services supporting so many scientific communities“.