GAIA is an ambitious mission to chart a three-dimensional map of our Galaxy. For this process, the star data read out from the detectors are packetized and compressed before they are transmitted to the onboard data storage system and later to the ground. This is where the 3D positions and the 2D motions of the over 1 billion objects observed by GAIA comes into play. Using data on 40,000 OB stars located within a distance of 10,000 light years from the Sun, Kevin Jardine – a software developer and amateur astronomer who specializes in using astronomical data to map the Milky Way – was able to create this comprehensive map. GAIA was launched in 2013 and continues to operate, oscillating around Lagrange 2, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth in the opposite direction to the Sun, and controlled from ESA's ESOC centre in Darmstadt (Germany). Data acquisition is done through three ground stations, one of which is in Spain, in Cebreros (Ávila). Nearby is ESA's ESAC scientific centre in Madrid, which coordinates scientific data. The creation of this exceptional catalogue based on the original data from the observations involves the international collaboration of 450 scientists and computer engineers from 20 countries, including Spain. This map, which is the latest breakthrough to come from the second release of Gaia data, will help astronomers to learn more about the kinds of stars that make up our Galaxy, its overall structure, and how the Milky Way is likely to evolve in the future. The third release of Gaia data is scheduled to take place in late 2020, with the final catalog being published in the 2020s. For GAIA program, GTD was in charge of developing the Gaia Optimum Compression Algorithm (GOCA), essential part of the On Board processor due to the massive size of data generated by GAIA sensors prior to be broadcasted to ground stations.
