DPAC cycles - origin of the names

The Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) has adopted a development approach in which software is incrementally built in cycles of 6 month duration. In order to give each one a unique identity the 10 cycles covering the time span from mid-2006 to the planned launch of Gaia in 2011 have been named after the 10 highest mountains in the world in increasing order of their altitude. After a first year of development in cycles Annapurna (8091m) and Nanga Parbat (8125m), DPAC recently finished its third cycle Manaslu (8163m) and commenced the Dhaulagiri (8167m) cycle which is ongoing until the end of May next year. Apart from prominently marking the foreseen end of all pre-launch development activities in 2011, the name of the last cycle also has another special significance: The Tibetan name of Mount Everest (8850m) is Chomolungma which translates to 'Goddess Mother of the Earth' coinciding with the original meaning of the word Gaia from Greek mythology.

Image sources:
Annapurna: Søren Viit Nielsen; Nanga Parbat: MountainsoftheWorld.info; Manaslu: Richard SG; Dhaulagiri: Jamie O'Shaughnessy; Cho Oyu: Uwe Gille; Makalu: Nelson; Lhotse: Lee Chai; Kangchenjunga: Siegmund Stiehler; K2: John Canivley; Everest: Pavel Novak.

[Published 17/12/2007]