Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the - Solar System ...

important advances are often the result of analyses carried out using data archives supported by the
SRA program years or even decades after a mission has ended.
The Planetary Data System (PDS) provides the critical data archiving and distribution
function to the planetary science community. Over the last 20 years, the PDS has established a
systematic protocol for archiving and distributing mission data that has become the international
standard. It is crucial that the capabilities of the Planetary Data System be maintained by
NASA, both to provide a permanent archive of planetary data and to provide a means of
distributing those data to the world at large. It is also essential that newly acquired data continue
to be archived and made accessible to the science community within no more than 6 months
following receipt and validation. For data from ground-based or international partner instruments,
contractual agreements should be used to assure the timely delivery of such data to the PDS
(sometimes within funding agreements from specific supporting research and analysis programs).
The PDS should also consider developing requirements for data archiving by small groups who have
implemented creative data processing that enhances the value of existing planetary data sets.
High-level data products must be archived along with the low-level products typically
produced by instrument teams. For future missions, Announcements of Opportunity (AOs)
should mandate that instrument teams propose and be funded to generate derived products
before missions have completed Phase E. In the interim, separate support should be provided for
development of high-level data products in cases where such support cannot be provided by mission
funding.
Use of the appropriate standards is essential to enable synergistic application of planetary
data sets. Over the past two decades the development of the Navigation and Ancillary Information
Facility (NAIF) at JPL, together with the evolving standards associated with SPICE kernels—i.e.,
specific data files containing ancillary information relating to the orientation, location, operating
mode, and other operating characteristics relevant to how data from a particular spacecraft instrument
was collected—have greatly streamlined and standardized planning, acquiring, and archiving
information about observations. The NAIF facility and SPICE kernels should continue to be used,
and NASA planetary missions should adopt SPICE as a standard during mission planning, operations,
and archiving. Development of standards for geodetic and cartographic coordinate systems should to
be encouraged, and these systems should be documented and archived within a NAIF/SPICE
framework.
With expected large increases in data volume during the next 10 years, PDS capabilities will
have to expand. The existing PDS is very much a product of its original decade of creation. The
planned PDS upgrade will better leverage modern databases and web services, creating an on-line
resource that will serve the more complex needs of modern science user communities. New types of
data, like pertinent laboratory measurements and telescopic data, could be added where appropriate.
Periodic reviews, as already performed, will ensure that the science communities’ needs are met. A
balanced SRA program will allow for further development of related public domain software, such as
OLAF (for data ingestion) and ISIS (image manipulation and mosaicking), and a coordinated set of
standards (geodetic, cartographic maps, and other systems). And, as planetary exploration continues
to become a more international enterprise, it will be increasingly important for NASA to assure
interoperability of the PDS with other international repositories of planetary data.
Communicating With the Public: Education and Outreach
The tremendous public interest in planets and planetary exploration points to a deeply rooted
resonance between the work done by planetary scientists and the broader populace. In its most grand
sense, planetary exploration challenges us all to be curious about the world in which we live. Such
curiosity can lead to a greater appreciation of the role of that science in general and planetary science
in particular can play in fostering a vigorous and economically healthy nation.
PREPUBLICATION COPY—SUBJECT TO FURTHER EDITORIAL CORRECTION
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