Planetary Data System
Encyclopedia
The Planetary Data System (PDS) is a distributed data system that NASA
uses to archive data collected by Solar System
robotic missions and ground-based support data associated with those missions. PDS is managed by NASA Headquarters' Planetary Sciences Division. The PDS is an active archive that makes available well documented, peer reviewed data to the research community. The archive and data within are held to high quality standards established by the PDS. The PDS is divided into a number of science discipline "nodes" which are individually curated by planetary scientists. The Solar System Exploration Data Services Office at the Goddard Space Flight Center
handles PDS Project Management.
document) an accompanying plain text file is also required. It is assumed that the scientists of the future will at least be able to make sense of regular ASCII
bytes even if the proprietary software and support ceases to exist. PDS allows figures and illustrations to be included in the archive as individual images. PDS adheres to many other standards including, but not limited to, special directory and file naming conventions and label requirements. Each file in the PDS archive is accompanied by a searchable label (attached or detached) that describes the file content.
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
uses to archive data collected by Solar System
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
robotic missions and ground-based support data associated with those missions. PDS is managed by NASA Headquarters' Planetary Sciences Division. The PDS is an active archive that makes available well documented, peer reviewed data to the research community. The archive and data within are held to high quality standards established by the PDS. The PDS is divided into a number of science discipline "nodes" which are individually curated by planetary scientists. The Solar System Exploration Data Services Office at the Goddard Space Flight Center
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. GSFC,...
handles PDS Project Management.
PDS archiving philosophy
The main objective of the PDS is to maintain a planetary data archive that will withstand the test of time such that future generations of scientists can access, understand and use preexisting planetary data. The PDS tries to ensure compatibility of the archive by adhering to strict standards of storage media, archiving formats, and required documentation.Storage media
One critical component of the PDS archive is the storage media. The data must be stored effectively and efficiently with no degradation of the data over the archive's lifespan. Therefore, the physical media must have large capacity and must remain readable over many years. PDS is migrating toward electronic storage as its "standard" media.Archiving formats
The format of the data is also important. In general, transparent, non-proprietary formats are best. When a proprietary format is submitted to the archive (such as a Microsoft WordMicrosoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
document) an accompanying plain text file is also required. It is assumed that the scientists of the future will at least be able to make sense of regular ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
bytes even if the proprietary software and support ceases to exist. PDS allows figures and illustrations to be included in the archive as individual images. PDS adheres to many other standards including, but not limited to, special directory and file naming conventions and label requirements. Each file in the PDS archive is accompanied by a searchable label (attached or detached) that describes the file content.
Archiving documents
The archive must be complete and be able to stand alone. There is no guarantee that the people who originally worked with and submitted the data to the archive will be available in the future to field questions regarding the data, its calibration or the mission. Therefore, the archive must include good descriptive documentation of how the spacecraft and its instruments worked, how the data were collected and calibrated, and what the data mean. The quality of the documentation is examined during a mission independent PDS peer review.Nodes
The PDS is composed of 8 nodes, 6 science discipline nodes and 2 support nodes. In addition, there are several subnodes and data nodes whose exact status tends to change over time.Science Discipline Nodes
- Atmospheres Node - handles non-imaging atmospheric data (New Mexico State UniversityNew Mexico State UniversityNew Mexico State University at Las Cruces , is a major land-grant university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States...
) - Geosciences Node - handles data of the surfaces and interiors of terrestrial planetary bodies (Washington University)
- Imaging Node - archives many of the larger planetary image data collections (Astrogeology Research ProgramAstrogeology Research ProgramThe USGS Astrogeology Science Center has a rich history of participation in space exploration efforts and planetary mapping, starting in 1963 when the Flagstaff Science Center was established by Gene Shoemaker to provide lunar geologic mapping and assist in training astronauts destined for the...
of the United States Geological SurveyUnited States Geological SurveyThe United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
, and Jet Propulsion LaboratoryJet Propulsion LaboratoryJet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The facility is headquartered in the city of Pasadena on the border of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena...
) - Planetary Plasma Interaction (PPI) Node - handles data consisting of the interaction between the solar wind and planetary winds with planetary magnetospheres, ionospheres and surfaces (University of California, Los AngelesUniversity of California, Los AngelesThe University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
) - Planetary Rings Node - handles planetary ring system data (SETI InstituteSETI InstituteThe SETI Institute is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to “explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe”. SETI stands for the "search for extraterrestrial intelligence". One program is the use of both radio and optical telescopes to search...
) - Small Bodies Node (SBN) - handles asteroid, comet and planetary dust data (University of Maryland, College ParkUniversity of Maryland, College ParkThe University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
)- Comet Subnode (University of Maryland, College ParkUniversity of Maryland, College ParkThe University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
) - Asteroid/Interplanetary Dust Subnode (Planetary Science InstitutePlanetary Science InstituteThe Planetary Science Institute is a research institute based in Tucson, Arizona, focusing on planetary science.Founded in 1972 on a non-profit basis, it is involved in many NASA missions, the study of Mars, asteroids, comets, interplanetary dust, the formation of the Solar System, extrasolar...
)
- Comet Subnode (University of Maryland, College Park
Support Nodes
- Engineering Node - provides systems engineering support to the PDS (Jet Propulsion LaboratoryJet Propulsion LaboratoryJet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The facility is headquartered in the city of Pasadena on the border of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena...
) - Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF) Node - maintains the SPICESpace Planet Instrument C-matrix EventsSPICE is a NASA ancillary information system used to compute geometric information used in planning and analyzing science observations obtained from robotic spacecraft...
information system (Jet Propulsion LaboratoryJet Propulsion LaboratoryJet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The facility is headquartered in the city of Pasadena on the border of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena...
)
See also
- International Planetary Data AllianceInternational Planetary Data AllianceInternational Planetary Data Alliance , founded in 2006, is a close co-operation partners in order to maintain the quality and performance for planetary research with instruments in space. Specific task will IPDA and universal access for the exchange of scientific data of high quality international...
(IPDA) - SIMBADSIMBADSIMBAD is an astronomical database of objects beyond the Solar System...
- NASA/IPAC Extragalactic DatabaseNASA/IPAC Extragalactic DatabaseThe NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database is an on-line astronomical database for astronomers that collates and cross-correlates astronomical information on extragalactic objects...
(NED) - NASA Astrophysics Data SystemAstrophysics Data SystemThe Astrophysics Data System , developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration , is an online database of over eight million astronomy and physics papers from both peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed sources...
(ADS) - NASA Space Planet Instrument C-matrix EventsSpace Planet Instrument C-matrix EventsSPICE is a NASA ancillary information system used to compute geometric information used in planning and analyzing science observations obtained from robotic spacecraft...
(SPICE) - Parameter Value LanguageParameter Value LanguageIn computer programming, Parameter Value Language is a markup language similar to XML. It is commonly employed for entries in the Planetary Database System used by NASA to store mission data, among other uses.- External links :*...
(markup language)