Djangocon EU: How Django is helping to build the biggest X-ray observatory to date - Loes Crama¶
(One of my summaries of the 2026 Djangocon EU in Athens).
She works at Cosine, they develop measurement systems and space instrumentation. They work for the space industry (ESA, NASA, etc).
They’re now working on “high-energy optics”, the NewAthena x-ray observatory, the biggest one to date. NewAthena: NEW Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics. Planned launch is in 2037 on Ariane 6.4.
Talking about rocket science is cool, but where’s the software? Within the company, software is an internal service, supporting scientists. Handling data in many ways: visualization, analysis, processing, management. Django plays a big role in all of this.
When you build something with Django in a scientific context, you really need to understand the data. Workflows must be flexible. R&D and production often don’t need to be strictly separated. Multiple datastores for various purposes (like an extra MongoDB, for instance) is often handy.
Their application consists of:
SXRO (silicon x-ray optics) database.
A Mysql database.
Django.
The goal is to track all the components that go into the observatory. Status and quality. Configuration and geometry. Component relationships. Inspections. History of all the components.
The default Django admin is their primary method of using the application. Often, it is said that the admin is not not not intended for end users. But they’re using it anyway. It is an internal tool for technical people. Most of them have a PhD: they can handle such an interface. They’ve been using it for years.
There are some third party packages:
django-simple-history: easy history.
djangoql: advanced queries for the search bar.
django-admin-rangefilter, django-admin-list-filter-dropdown, django-admin-numeric-filter: little tools to tweak the filters on the right hand side.
There are some separate forms, mostly for actions performed in the lab or cleanroom. For instance a form where you can use an ipad to indicate defects in one of the components by just drawing on the picture of the component.
There’s also a REST API. Other software and data tools can use it to integrate with Django:
Observability tools (prometheus/grafana).
JupyterHub.
Stacking robots.
They use: djangorestframework, drf-spectacular (API docs), django-filter (filtering via GET parameters).
Django is their software backbone. A general-purpose framework that’s well suited for a scientific context.
Unrelated photo explanation: a cat I encountered in Athens on an evening stroll in the neighbourhood behind the hotel.