  Astrophysics and Space Science are becoming increasingly characterised by
what is now known as "big data", the bottlenecks for progress partly shifting
from data acquisition to "data mining". Truth is that the amount and rate of
data accumulation in many fields already surpasses the local capabilities for
its processing and exploitation, and the efficient conversion of scientific
data into knowledge is everywhere a challenge. The result is that, to a large
extent, isolated data archives risk being progressively likened to "data
graveyards", where the information stored is not reused for scientific work.
Responsible and efficient use of these large datasets means democratising
access and extracting the most science possible from it, which in turn
signifies improving data accessibility and integration. Improving data
processing capabilities is another important issue specific to researchers and
computer scientists of each field. The project presented here wishes to exploit
the enormous potential opened up by information technology at our age to
advance a model for a science data center in astronomy which aims to expand
data accessibility and integration to the largest possible extent and with the
greatest efficiency for scientific and educational use. Greater access to data
means more people producing and benefiting from information, whereas larger
integration of related data from different origins means a greater research
potential and increased scientific impact.The project of the BSDC is
preoccupied, primarily, with providing tools and solutions for the Brazilian
astronomical community. It nevertheless capitalizes on extensive international
experience, and is developed in cooperation with the ASI Science Data Center
(ASDC), from the Italian Space Agency, granting it an essential ingredient of
internationalisation. The BSDC is Virtual Observatory-compliant.
