**Planetary Data System**

**Proposer\'s Archiving Guide (PAG)**

Jan 3, 2007

Version 1.11

![](media/image1.png){width="2.5125in" height="2.5125in"}

![](media/image2.pct){width="1.1722222222222223in"
height="0.4486111111111111in"}

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, California

JPL D-26359

**Planetary Data System**

**Proposer\'s Archiving Guide (PAG)**

Jan 3, 2007

Version 1.11

Approved:

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Edwin Grayzeck Date

PDS Project Manager

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Reta Beebe Date

PDS Project Scientist

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

William Knopf Date

PDS Program Executive

![](media/image2.pct){width="1.1722222222222223in"
height="0.4486111111111111in"}

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, California

JPL D-26359

**CHANGE LOG**

+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| **Revision**  | **Date**  | **Description**            | *         |
|               |           |                            | *Author** |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Start Draft   | April 2,  | Initial outline            | R. Joyner |
|               | 2003      |                            |           |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Draft Release | April 17, | First Draft                | V.        |
| 1             | 2003      |                            | Henderson |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Draft Release | April 22, | Add Sections 1.1, 1.2;     | V.        |
| 2             | 2003      | reworked 2.0, edited       | Henderson |
|               |           | document throughout to     |           |
|               |           | reduce level of detail     |           |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Draft Release | May 8,    | Added Section 4 Cost Model | V.        |
| 3             | 2003      |                            | Henderson |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Draft Release | May 9,    | Change "project" to        | V.        |
| 4             | 2003      | "mission".                 | Henderson |
|               |           |                            |           |
|               |           | Added text to Sections     |           |
|               |           | 2.2, 3.1, 3.2; added       |           |
|               |           | acronym list;              |           |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Draft Release | 16 May    | Section 1                  | R.A.      |
| 5a            | 2003      |                            | Simpson   |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Draft Release | 18 May    | All                        | R.A.      |
| 5b            | 2003      |                            | Simpson   |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Draft Release | 25 May    | All sections -- using      | R. Joyner |
| 6             | 2002      | submittals from PAG        |           |
|               |           | working group              |           |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Draft Release | 2         | All sections - more inputs | Dick      |
| 1.7           | 003-06-01 | from PAG WG                | Simpson   |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Draft Release | 2         | Ruthless reduction         | M. Gordon |
| 1.8           | 003-06-05 |                            |           |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Draft Release | 2         | All sections - more inputs | M. Gordon |
| 1.9           | 003-06-11 | from PAG WG                |           |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Draft Release | 2         | Penultimate clean up       | M. Gordon |
| 1.10          | 003-06-14 |                            |           |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Initial       | 2         | All sections; added URLs   | R. Joyner |
| Release 1.0   | 003-06-15 |                            |           |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Version 1.1   | 2         | Reconcile with APG, update | M.        |
|               | 006-07-20 | CN/EN & media              | A'Hearn   |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+
| Version 1.11  | 2         | Resolve KDP nomenclature   | E.        |
|               | 007-01-03 | and minor edits --add cost | Grayzeck  |
|               |           | model resources            | & R.      |
|               |           |                            | Beebe     |
+---------------+-----------+----------------------------+-----------+

**TABLE OF CONTENTS**

Section Title Page

[1.0 INTRODUCTION 1](#introduction)

[1.1 Purpose 1](#purpose)

[1.2 Scope 1](#scope)

[1.3 Audience 1](#audience)

[1.4 Applicable Documents 2](#applicable-documents)

[2.0 Overview of the archiving process
2](#overview-of-the-archiving-process)

[3.0 Elements of a Good Archive 3](#elements-of-a-good-archive)

[3.1 Overview 3](#overview)

[3.2 Instrument Data Products 3](#instrument-data-products)

[3.3 Other Mission Data 4](#other-mission-data)

[3.4 Higher level products 4](#higher-level-products)

[3.5 Documentation 4](#documentation)

[3.5.1 Data product Documentation 5](#data-product-documentation)

[3.5.2 Archive Volume Documentation 5](#archive-volume-documentation)

[3.5.3 Calibration Documentation 5](#calibration-documentation)

[3.5.4 Catalog and General Documentation Files
5](#catalog-and-general-documentation-files)

[3.6 Archive Organization 6](#archive-organization)

[4.0 The Planetary Data System (PDS) 7](#the-planetary-data-system-pds)

[4.1 Roles and Responsibilities (within the PDS)
7](#roles-and-responsibilities-within-the-pds)

[4.1.1 Engineering Node 7](#engineering-node)

[4.1.2 Discipline Nodes 7](#discipline-nodes)

[5.0 mission ARCHIVING ROLES AND ACTIVITies
9](#mission-archiving-roles-and-activities)

[5.1 Organizing the Archiving Activity
9](#organizing-the-archiving-activity)

[5.2 Mission Archiving Roles 9](#mission-archiving-roles)

[5.2.1 Principal Investigator (PI) 9](#principal-investigator-pi)

[5.2.2 Mission Archive Scientist 10](#mission-archive-scientist)

[5.2.3 Archive Preparers 10](#archive-preparers)

[6.0 Steps in the Archive Process 11](#steps-in-the-archive-process)

[6.1 Pre-proposal Briefing 11](#pre-proposal-briefing)

[6.2 Proposal Phase 11](#proposal-phase)

[6.3 Concept Study Report (CSR) 11](#concept-study-report-csr)

[6.4 KDP B 12](#kdp-b)

[6.5 KDP C/D --Design, Construction, and Test
12](#kdp-cd-design-construction-and-test)

[6.6 KDP E (Operations) 13](#kdp-e-operations)

[6.7 Major Documents and Reviews by KDP
14](#major-documents-and-reviews-by-kdp)

[7.0 Deliverables expected by the PDS
15](#deliverables-expected-by-the-pds)

[7.1 Memo of Understanding (MOU) 15](#memo-of-understanding-mou)

[7.2 Data Management and Archiving Plan (DMAP)
15](#data-management-and-archiving-plan-dmap)

[7.3 Interface Control Document (ICD)
15](#interface-control-document-icd)

[7.4 Software Interface Specification (SIS)
15](#software-interface-specification-sis)

[7.5 Catalog Files 16](#catalog-files)

[7.6 Lien Resolutions 16](#lien-resolutions)

[7.7 PDS Compliant Archive Volumes 16](#pds-compliant-archive-volumes)

[8.0 Costing the Archive Activity 16](#costing-the-archive-activity)

[APPENDIX A ACRONYMS 18](#acronyms)

[APPENDIX B NASA and CODMAC Processing Levels
19](#nasa-and-codmac-processing-levels)

[APPENDIX C ONLINE RESOURCES 20](#online-resources)

# INTRODUCTION

##  Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide basic information on the
archiving process (including PDS expectations) to scientists proposing
for NASA planetary programs. THE PDS hopes that better understanding of
archiving at the earliest stage will help proposers address key issues,
integrate archiving with the data production pipeline, and allocate
adequate resources for archiving. The result should be higher quality
archives produced more efficiently at lower overall cost.

##  Scope

This document addresses the following topics broadly, but with enough
detail that scientists should be able to draft the archiving section of
a planetary proposal. A generic \'mission\' context is assumed since the
majority of data (both in volume and complexity) flows from NASA
missions.

-   Overview of the archiving process, including goals

-   Elements of a good archive

-   Organization and structure of the Planetary Data System

-   Mission archiving roles and activities

-   Steps in the archive process

-   Costing the archive activity

-   Typical deliverables

Appendix C provides links to additional resources and sample documents.

##  Audience

This document is written primarily for scientists responding to NRAs and
AOs for NASA planetary missions. Others (proposers for individual
instruments, proposers to data analysis programs, foreign investigators
seeking to archive with PDS) should find the material useful, after
appropriate adjustments. The expected audience for this document
includes:

-   Proposers to NASA mission-scale opportunities

-   Proposers for investigations to supply instruments on NASA missions

-   Proposers to NASA data analysis programs

-   Scientists and managers in non-U.S. missions

-   Scientists interested in restoring and archiving old data sets

-   Users of data in the existing PDS holdings

-   NASA managers at various levels

-   Archivists and data management professionals

##  Applicable Documents 

\[1\] Planetary Data System Standards Reference, March 20, 2006,

> Version 3.7, JPL D-7669, Part 2.
> (<http://pds.nasa.gov/documents/sr/index.html>)

\[2\] Planetary Science Data Dictionary Document, August 28, 2002,

Planetary Data System, JPL D-7116, Rev. E.

(<http://pds.nasa.gov/documents/psdd/psdd.pdf>)

# Overview of the archiving process

The PDS archives and distributes documented data to the planetary
science community. It was established in response to requests for
increased availability of planetary data and to concerns that data from
past NASA missions were degrading to the point of becoming unusable for
analysis. PDS functions include both ingestion and distribution of data
at \'nodes\' specializing in certain scientific disciplines and/or
technical skills. A central catalog provides high-level information on
node holdings.

In order to fulfill its charter, the PDS requires that data it handles
be understandable, be in formats that future scientists will find easy
to use, and follow standards for organization and content that
facilitate machine-assisted correlative science across missions and
science disciplines. The PDS requires that submitted data meet published
standards regarding format, content, and documentation \[1, 2\]. A range
of formats has been defined, but \'tables\' and \'images\' account for
the majority of products. Data products are organized logically into
\'data sets,\' which are sometimes organized into \'data set
collections\'. Data may be written to \'volumes\' and \'volume sets\' on
physical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs.

At an early stage mission and instrument personnel should define the
data products they intend to archive, estimate their volume and
generation rate, and negotiate a preliminary delivery procedure with the
PDS. Adequate documentation for both understanding and using the data is
critical to each archive; mission planners should be mindful of the
archive documentation requirement as they develop explanatory materials
for other purposes. All archive submissions to the PDS are peer-reviewed
by scientists and data engineers to ensure that PDS standards have been
met and that the archive is complete and the data are useful. This
usually occurs at several stages for mission archiving.

Once data are fully integrated into the PDS, they may be retrieved
through electronic queries over the Internet, or by special request on
physical media such as CD-ROM. The PDS provides copies of all accepted
data sets to the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC), which
serves as both the PDS \'deep archive\' and the official distribution
point for requests originating outside the planetary research community.

# Elements of a Good Archive

##  Overview

A useful mission archive, as required by most NRAs and AOs, includes raw
data formatted from each instrument, data calibrated in physical units,
and derived products based on further processing of the data and/or
combinations of different data such as maps, overlays, and comparative
tables. The archive contains sufficient documentation of the mission,
the instruments, and the calibrations that a scientist of a future
generation can intelligently use the data and, if appropriate, even
recalibrate the data. The archive includes complete information about
the geometry relevant to the mission (e.g., spacecraft position and
orientation relative to the target). It includes indices to help in
searching the data, catalog files to enable ingestion of meta-data into
the PDS database, supporting documentation, and any other information
relevant to understanding or interpreting the data. Finally, the archive
uses a straightforward organization and a small number of widely
recognized, non-proprietary formats.

An instrument archive designed in advance and fed by a data processing
pipeline contains \'standard\' products, usually from the single
instrument, but possibly from an integrated payload of several
instruments. As the mission evolves, new \'special\' products
(combinations of data from multiple sources, the results of analyses not
originally planned, etc.) may be defined. The PDS encourages inclusion
of these additional special products in the archive; however, the
decision to do so rests with the mission (or instrument) and often
depends on availability of resources.

##  Instrument Data Products

Appendix B lists the NASA and the CODMAC (Committee On Data Management
and Computation) data levels. Missions are normally expected to archive
both raw data (formatted appropriately for each instrument) and data
fully calibrated in physical units. These usually correspond to CODMAC
levels 2 and 3, although there may be cases in which an unusual
instrument calibration is inherently irreversible, thus leading to
CODMAC level 4. Where no investigation team has been selected, e.g. for
radio science, the mission should still consider archiving the data from
all major subsystem operations if there is a potential for any
scientific use. Most missions transfer CODMAC level 1 data to an entity
in the implementing organization and/or some part of the PDS to be
\"saved\", but these are not formally part of the archive.

The archive should include a complete description of the operation of
each instrument and of the calibration procedure and all files needed to
carry out the calibration. The PDS also requires a short, descriptive
file about each instrument for cataloging in its central database.
Formats of the data, both raw and calibrated, should be simple,
non-proprietary, and widely used---formats that would be familiar to
most in the relevant segment of the research community. Each data file
has a label, normally (but not always) a detached label in a separate
file, that describes the data file itself in a structured keyword =
value format. This label is intended to be read by humans and by data
analysis software.

## Other Mission Data

The mission is expected to archive complete geometric details from
launch through end of mission. These typically include the full
ephemeris of the spacecraft and orientation of the spacecraft and all
instruments, the relationship of these to coordinate systems on the
target, a history of all significant spacecraft events, and other
housekeeping data (such as temperatures and power levels) that might be
useful in understanding the behavior of instruments.

The mission should also archive ancillary data that are important to
either mission planning or interpretation of the data from the mission.
These might include contemporaneous, Earth-based observations or key
models, such as shape models, used in interpreting the data.

Normally, radiometric tracking of data should be archived even if there
is no \"instrument team\" for radio science.

The mission must also provide suitable catalog files describing the
overall mission, the spacecraft, and the instrument(s) so that future
scientists will be able to use the data intelligently.

Index tables must be provided to assist in locating individual data
products in the archive.

## Higher level products

AOs and NRAs may also require, and the PDS encourages, the mission to
archive higher-level products, such as those at CODMAC levels 4 and
above. These might include mosaics, maps, data resampled to a common
interval, fits to model results, or inversions. Higher-level products
may come from a single instrument or from combining the results from
several instruments.

## Documentation

Second in importance only to the data products themselves is the
documentation that accompanies them in the archive. The documentation
takes several forms. Every individual file must be described in its
associated label. For some files, the label is included at the beginning
of the file. However, for many files, especially data products, it is
more appropriate to include the label as a separate file. Labels are
intended to be readable by humans as well as by data analysis software.

### Data product Documentation

In the definition stage of archive production, each instrument team and
a PDS representative will work out an agreement that defines the
archiving tasks that each party will perform, along with a schedule.
This agreement is documented in the

Interface Control Document (ICD), signed by the instrument P.I., the
node manager, the mission project manager and the PDS program manager.
The ICD will define the scope of the task, and, although this is
generally a separate document for large, complex missions, it may be a
component of the Data Management and Archive Plan (DMAP) for smaller
missions. The ICD is a \"living\" document in the sense that it is
continually revised to reflect changes in the data product. The most
current version of the ICD should be included in the archive.

During the next stage, each instrument team will produce a Software
Interface Specification (SIS) document that describes data processing
plans and the data products and its format (at the bit level if
necessary) in sufficient detail for a scientist to use them.

### Archive Volume Documentation

It is common to document the volume structure in an Archive Volume SIS.
The Archive Volume SIS may be combined with the individual data product
SIS\'s as separate chapters in a single document. In either case, the
resulting document(s) should be included in the archive.

### Calibration Documentation

Each instrument team should include a description of the calibration
procedure (or algorithms) and all necessary data files so that future
users can reproduce the calibration. The calibration procedure should be
appropriate to the processing level of the data in the archive.
Sometimes it is useful to include computer source code as documentation.
However, providing source code alone, expecting all future scientists to
use it, is not considered an acceptable response to the calibration
requirement because software is almost always platform dependent and no
software can be guaranteed stable over extended periods of time
regardless of the platform.

### Catalog and General Documentation Files

The mission team is usually responsible for drafting and maintaining
descriptions of the spacecraft and the mission itself, along with a list
of references. Each instrument team drafts and maintains descriptions of
its instrument (the instrument, its modes, and the scientific objectives
of the investigation) and its data sets (including coverage and
quality). These descriptions are included in each instrument archive.
They are also entered into the PDS online catalog as the catalog files
to be available for searching.

Additional documentation such as journal submissions describing the
instrument and investigation, technical reports, analysis algorithms,
operations plans, and other material may also be included in the
archive. Software may be submitted as either documentation or
operational modules with the caveats noted above under 'Calibration
Documentation'.

## Archive Organization

As noted above, data products are organized logically into data sets but
are physically written to volumes; large data sets may require multiple
volumes. Mission data are usually delivered incrementally to the PDS
every 3-6 months---sometimes negotiated to be \'electronic\' rather than
physical volumes. A typical volume structure is shown in Figure 3-1.

![](media/image3.jpeg){width="6.127083333333333in"
height="5.089583333333334in"}

Figure 3-1: **Typical volume structure for a data set spanning multiple
volumes.** The CATALOG directory contains structured documentation on
the data set, the associated instrument(s), the spacecraft or other
host, the mission, and other matters; these files become part of the PDS
central catalog. The GEOMETRY directory contains ephemerides,
orientation data, and other geometry data. The INDEX directory contains
tables of contents for both the volume and volume set. The DATA
directory is often divided into subdirectories grouping data by type,
source, or time

# The Planetary Data System (PDS) 

This section briefly describes the organization of the PDS, some of its
responsibilities, and how those are distributed within the system.

## Roles and Responsibilities (within the PDS) 

The role of the PDS is to ensure that future generations of scientists
can make good use of data returned from today\'s NASA missions. The PDS
comprises several operational units or \'nodes.\' Each node is staffed
and operated independently at a university or government research
center, and curates data within a discipline of planetary science and/or
provides specialized technical expertise to the PDS. The PDS Management
Office is located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
(http://pdsmgmt.gsfc.nasa.gov/)

### Engineering Node

The PDS Engineering Node, located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
provides PDS-wide infrastructure and a complete catalog of all data
holdings. For purposes of this document its most important role is as a
source of tools and standards for constructing and validating archives.
(http://pds.nasa.gov/)

### Discipline Nodes

Each discipline node is responsible for data in a specific subject area
or specialty; each maintains the PDS data holdings in that specialty. At
least one discipline node will work closely with the mission team
throughout archive development.

This is a brief summary of the current discipline nodes.

**Planetary Atmospheres Node**, located at New Mexico State University
(Las Cruces, NM), concentrating on planetary atmospheres and including
the gas giant planets.
([http://pds-atmospheres.nmsu.edu](http://pds-atmospheres.nmsu.edu/) )

**Geosciences Node**, located at Washington University (St. Louis, MO),
specializing in the surfaces and interiors of terrestrial planets. (
[http://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu](http://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/) )

**Planetary Plasma Interactions Node**, located at the University of
California, Los Angeles, concerned with fields and particles, plasmas,
and interactions with the interplanetary medium.
([http://pds-ppi.igpp.ucla.edu](http://pds-ppi.igpp.ucla.edu/) )

**Planetary Rings Node**, located at the NASA Ames Research Center
(Moffett Field, CA), and concentrating on planetary ring systems and
dynamical interactions with inner moons.
([http://pds-rings.seti.org](http://pds-rings.seti.org/) )

**Small Bodies Node**, located at the University of Maryland (College
Park, MD), and concerned with comets, asteroids, Pluto, trans-Neptunian
objects, and interplanetary dust.
([http://pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu](http://pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/)
)

**Imaging Node**, located at the U.S. Geological Survey (Flagstaff, AZ)
and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA), specializing in digital
imaging and image processing. Imaging has also accepted responsibility
for large icy satellites.

([http://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov](http://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/) )

**Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF)**, located at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA), specializing in observational
geometry (ephemerides and orientations, including the SPICE information
system) and ancillary information (e.g., spacecraft engineering data).
([http://pds-naif.jpl.nasa.gov](http://pds-naif.jpl.nasa.gov/) )

**4.1.3 PDS Roles in Mission Archiving**

Early in the mission life cycle, PDS will schedule an orientation for
mission representatives to define roles and assign responsibilities and
to establish points of contact:

\* Mission contacts

\* Instrument / Science Team contacts

\* Discipline Node contacts

\* Engineering Node contacts

A new mission is usually assigned to a single discipline node, which
serves as the \'lead node\' for the remainder of the mission. Lead
nodes, in turn, arrange for support of individual instrument teams
(including potential data contributors without specific instruments,
such as Interdisciplinary Scientists) through other discipline nodes if
appropriate. The lead node works with the mission to ensure that archive
plans are developed, designs meet standards and facilitate
cross-instrument and cross-mission comparisons, and archive production
and validation run smoothly.

# mission ARCHIVING ROLES AND ACTIVITies

The PDS must establish contacts with a mission at several levels.
Because missions themselves vary in organizational complexity, no single
model is adequate to describe these relationships. However, certain key
functions and responsibilities are needed in all cases. This section
describes the archiving organization and contact points which recur in
many missions. The discussion is meant to be illustrative, not
exclusionary.

## Organizing the Archiving Activity

It is at this point that missions differ substantially, depending on the
number of different instruments and the organization of the entire
mission team. Small missions with few instruments might have only the
Principal Investigator, the Archive Scientist, and some technical
support to deal with archiving. The Archive Scientist might be in charge
of instrument calibration, data processing, and archive production.

Complex missions will have separate instrument teams for each instrument
and usually delegate archiving responsibilities to the instrument teams.
These teams may deliver their archival products directly to the PDS or
may route them through a mission data center. Missions for which there
are separate instrument teams will almost always find it valuable to
create a Data Archive Working Group chaired by the Mission Archive
Scientist.

## Mission Archiving Roles

### Principal Investigator (PI)

Recent NRAs and AOs generally make it the responsibility of the
Principal Investigator and the investigation team to deliver archival
data products to PDS that meet PDS standards. While the PI remains
responsible, the authority for carrying out the work may be delegated,
either in small part or almost entirely, to one or more specific members
of the investigation team.

Coordination is required between the top levels of the mission and the
PDS. The mission must issue a data management and archiving plan.This
may be written as two separate documents, a Data Management Plan (DMP)
and an Archiving Plan (AP) and the ICD may be incorporated.These
documents define the scope of the archive and thus the costs of
archiving, both for the mission in preparing the archival products and
for PDS in reviewing the data, archiving the data, and subsequently
distributing it to the community. Therefore, the PI, the PDS Project
Manager, and the node manager of the lead node must agree on the content
of the archive as described in these documents.

The PI is responsible for ensuring an adequate budget for archiving,
including resolution of liens from any peer review process planned after
the final archive delivery.

### Mission Archive Scientist

It is generally more efficient for the mission/investigative team if a
single person is identified as the Mission Archive Scientist. This would
not normally be a full-time position except perhaps on very large,
complex missions. This individual oversees the archiving activities of
the entire mission and ideally is very familiar with PDS practices. The
Mission Archive Scientist is normally the primary contact between the
mission and the PDS lead node and serves as the mission's clearinghouse
for archiving information.

Potential tasks and responsibilities for the Mission Archive Scientist
generally include:

-   Prepare the archive portions of the Data Management and Archiving
    Plan.

-   Coordinate the preparation of the Interface Control Document that
    describes the details of the interface between the mission and the
    PDS.

-   Prepare the descriptive text about the mission, instrument host
    (*e.g*., spacecraft), and reference catalog files for the PDS
    database.

-   Oversee the preparation of Software Interface Specifications, the
    documents that describe the details of the data products (details
    needed for software to work with the data products).

-   Ensure the timely development by designated mission team members of
    additional archive documents (e.g. individual instrument ICDs,
    instrument catalog files, etc.).

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   Ensure that any copyright issues have been addressed if previously
    published material is to be included in the archive.

-   Ensure compatibility of formats and definitions from one instrument
    to another.

-   Coordinate delivery schedules for the archival products from
    different instruments.

-   Ensure that all data preparers are meeting their
    obligations/milestones.

-   Coordinate the mission team reviews of the archiving plans and
    details to ensure that all relevant information is captured in the
    archive.

-   Coordinate appropriate mission team participation in the PDS
    organized peer reviews.

-   Organize the mission responses to any liens identified by the review
    processes.

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   Arrange for personnel from PDS or from other organizations to
    present tutorials.

-   Arrange any desired technical workshops for the mission.

### Archive Preparers

Generally, the mission team will identify one or perhaps two archive
preparer(s) per instrument. The preparation of archival products
requires a mix of scientific expertise and expertise with data formats
and standards. Sometimes a single individual can fill both roles, but
frequently they are split between two people. Early and continued
interaction with PDS personnel, both PDS discipline scientists and PDS
data engineers, will be invaluable in optimizing the efficiency of
creating the archive.

Potential tasks and responsibilities for archive preparers include:

-   Define instrument archival products.

-   Design the details of each data product (file naming, keywords, file
    formats, etc.).

-   Ensure the scientific validity of the archival products.

-   Prepare the archive portions of the instrument Software Interface
    Specification that describe all these details.

-   Develop the INST.CAT and DATASET.CAT files, and assist in writing
    the PERSON.CAT file.

-   Ensure that the products and volumes meet PDS standards.

-   Production and transmission to PDS of the archival volumes(s).

# Steps in the Archive Process

This section lists the usual steps in a creating a successful mission
archive, including the key milestones and deliverables. Terminology for
the phases and the various reviews may vary from one program to another
(*e.g.* between Discovery and New Frontiers) or even from one
implementing organization to another. Figure 6-1, at the end of this
section, depicts the same information in chart form.

## Pre-proposal Briefing

Prior to proposal deadlines for NRAs and AOs, NASA often organizes a
pre-proposal briefing to provide guidelines and answer questions. As
part of this briefing, PDS will normally make a presentation on how PDS
works and what an archive requires. The *Proposer\'s Archiving Guide*
(this document) will be provided at the briefing.

## Proposal Phase

Typical AOs require that proposals include a discussion of products to
be delivered to PDS and that budgets include appropriate funding for
this activity. During the proposal phase, PDS will make available sample
archiving documents and a tool for estimating archival costs. PDS
personnel are also available to answer archive design questions from
proposal teams on a confidential basis.

## Concept Study Report (CSR)

In the Discovery and New Frontiers programs, several original proposals
may be selected to go into an advanced round of conceptualization
(roughly equivalent to Key Developmental Phase (KDP) A in NASA's
terminology for center-led missions) and leading to a Concept Study
Report (CSR), review, and down-selection. In some cases the science
section of the proposal, which contains the discussion of archiving, is
meant to remain unchanged in this phase. However, in some instances
changes may be allowed in order to strengthen the proposal. During this
phase, PDS will provide a detailed PDS orientation to any CSR team
requesting it. Proposal teams are welcome to contact PDS, either the
management office or an appropriate discipline node, with questions on a
confidential basis. Since much of the content of the archive plan must
be thought through in order to develop a realistic CSR budget, sometimes
a preliminary archive plan is included as an appendix to the CSR.

## KDP B

For relatively small, PI lead missions, a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) may be appropriate. If so, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
defining/delineating roles and mutual responsibilities regarding
archiving and distribution of mission data should be negotiated between
the mission and PDS early in KDP B. (Note that while an MOU may be
optional for small missions, it is essential for large center lead
missions and should be negotiated during KDP A). PDS will assign a
discipline node as the primary contact with the mission (referred to as
the \'lead node\' for the mission). In many cases, the choice of lead
node will be obvious; proposers may have even specified a lead node in
their proposal and/or CSR. The lead node will work with the mission to
complete the archive portion of the Data Management and Archiving Plan
(DMAP). The DMAP will contain sufficient detail about the data flow,
archival products, and procedures for generating the archive such that
everyone understands the responsibilities. Additionally the DMAP must
provide sufficient detail to enable both the mission and the PDS to
develop reliable estimates of the personnel and other costs for their
respective activities. The lead node and the mission will decide whether
other discipline nodes should be enlisted for handling particular data
sets. The lead node will advise the mission, but not set requirements,
on how to organize the archiving for the mission. This is likely to vary
depending on the complexity of the mission. A complete draft of the Data
Management and Archiving Plan is required at the Preliminary Design
Review (PDR).

## KDP C/D --Design, Construction, and Test

During this phase archive generation is designed as an integral part of
the data processing system. The DMAP must be signed by all parties by
the time of the Critical Design Review (CDR). Some missions may review
the operations (Ops) and ground data system (GDS) separately from the
flight system in which case the signed DMAP can be provided for the
Ops/GDS CDR.

An interface control document must also be prepared, describing in
detail the responsibilities of the mission and the responsibilities of
PDS and specifying all the points of contact. The details of this
document will vary considerably depending on the complexity of the
mission. For fast-development, short-flight small missions, it may be
possible to incorporate the ICD into the DMAP. For complex, long-lived
missions, separate ICDs may be required for individual instruments. In
either case, the ICD should be in final form shortly after CDR.

By the time of instrument tests, the archive must be designed in
sufficient detail that any test and calibration data likely to be useful
in flight can be archived without significant additional work. Details
of attitude telemetry should also be developed to a similar level. A
Software Interface Specification (SIS) should be outlined at an early
stage and filled in as details are decided in the design of the data
processing system. The SIS describes in detail the content of the
archive, including definitions of all parameters, calibration
procedures, and details of formats---to the bit level, if appropriate. A
complete, but probably not final, SIS must be available at the Mission
Readiness Review (MRR); details in the SIS may change as analysis
procedures and data formats are refined once operations begin.

During KDP C/D, close contact between the mission and lead node will
minimize possible production and delivery problems. A review of the
processing pipeline and sample archival output should be conducted near
the end of KDP C/D or early in KDP E. PDS can provide assistance for
peer reviews carried out by the mission, and it can organize external
peer reviews. For a long-duration mission with a steady flow of data,
pipeline and sample data reviews are an important mechanism for
minimizing later problems that might require reprocessing of large
volumes of data.

## KDP E (Operations)

Details of interactions between PDS and missions will vary considerably
during the operations phase, depending on when data deliveries are
scheduled and whether there is a fixed pipeline delivering large volumes
of data. There are four key \"events\" in KDP E, some or all of which
may be repeated periodically if the operations phase is a long one.
These are 1) deliveries to PDS, 2) updates to the DMAP, the ICDs and
SISs reflecting the archive as actually produced, 3) peer review of the
archive, and 4) resolution of all liens identified in the peer review.

Timing of data deliveries will be determined by guidelines specified in
the AO, by specific agreement between the mission and NASA as part of
the proposal and selection process, and/or by negotiation between the
mission and PDS. There may be a single delivery of all data at the end
of a short mission or there may be multiple, incremental deliveries for
a mission with a long operations phase. There may be a continuously
operating pipeline that does not change across multiple deliveries, or
the details of the products may vary from one delivery to another. The
deliveries may all come from a single project-wide data center, or the
deliveries may come separately from each of several instrument teams.
These choices will have been made and documented in the mission DMAP.

## Major Documents and Reviews by KDP

A peer review should be conducted of the earliest sample data from each
processing pipeline, thus ensuring a minimum of late-arising problems.
Depending on the detailed organization of the mission, these reviews
might occur late in KDP C/D or early in KDP E. Each data delivery must
be accompanied by the current, complete MDAP, ICD and SIS for that
delivery. PDS will organize peer reviews and these will involve both
technical specialists on archiving (typically from the DN and from EN)
and scientific peers who are not connected with the involved discipline
nodes of PDS and who were not involved in the preparation of the archive
(much like referees of journal articles). Scientists associated with the
DN will also participate, either as additional referees or in something
closer to the role of an editor or both. The mission is responsible for
addressing all liens identified in the peer reviews, just as an author
is responsible for addressing all comments of a journal referee. As with
journal refereeing, this does not always mean doing everything suggested
by the review panel, but it does mean doing many of the things and
explaining why other requests for change were not accepted. The
scientific peers are often the most severe critics of an archive. The
final data submission should occur prior to the end of the mission. The
mission must hold sufficient reserves at the end of the mission to
address any liens from the final peer review of the delivered archive.
Minimizing problems at this very late stage is the strongest reason for
working closely with PDS at an early stage and using early peer reviews
of sample data.

![](media/image4.jpeg){width="6.379861111111111in"
height="4.379861111111111in"}

> Figure 6-1. PDS Project Life Cycle

# Deliverables expected by the PDS

The following deliverables are expected by the PDS to establish
coordination and communication channels, determine roles and
responsibilities, and to define the scope of an archive; all may become
components of the archive itself.

## Memo of Understanding (MOU)

The MOU is a short document negotiated between a new mission and the PDS
defining/delineating roles and mutual responsibilities regarding
archiving and distribution of mission data. The MOU also contains a list
of documents to be produced and the parties responsible for producing
them. The MOU is produced early in KDP B. See PAG web page for examples.
(http://pds.nasa.gov/documents/pag/index.html)

## Data Management and Archiving Plan (DMAP)

The DMAP is a general description of mission data processing,
cataloging, and communications and a more detailed description of the
generation, validation, and transfer of the mission data archive to the
PDS. The DMAP may be delivered as a single document or as separate Data
Management Plan (DMP) and Archiving Plan (AP). Drafts of these are
prepared during KDP B and finalized in KDP C. See PAG web page for
examples. (http://pds.nasa.gov/documents/pag/index.html)

## Interface Control Document (ICD)

The mission will prepare one or more ICDs, which describe both the
detailed interface between the mission and PDS and the list of data
products to be delivered with a schedule. For smaller missions the ICD
ma be included in the DMAP.

## Software Interface Specification (SIS)

The mission will prepare one or more SISs that describe the content and
organization of each archive volume and the format, content, processing
history, and labeling of each data product. Draft SISs are prepared in
KDP C, reviewed in KDP D and \'finalized\' in KDP E. Note that SISs are
living documents; consequently revisions may be necessary to the
\'finalized\' versions. The SIS must have enough information to design
software to work with the data. See PAG web page for examples.

(http://pds.nasa.gov/documents/pag/index.html)

## Catalog Files

Files in the CATALOG directory are delivered on schedules given in the
Archive Plan. Typically mission and spacecraft descriptions (in the
files MISSION.CAT and INSTHOST.CAT) are drafted and maintained by
mission personnel, while instrument, data set, and personnel information
(in the files INST.CAT, DATASET.CAT, and PERSON.CAT) are drafted and
maintained by the respective instrument teams. Instrument teams
contribute to a master reference list (REF.CAT), which is maintained by
the mission. The information in these files becomes part of the PDS
Catalog.

Draft versions of catalog files are delivered during KDP C for purposes
of distribution. Initial versions of catalog files must be delivered no
later than early KDP E. The catalog files will be updated throughout the
mission with the final updated versions submitted to the PDS at the end
of the mission. See PAG web page for examples.
(http://pds.nasa.gov/documents/pag/index.html)

## Lien Resolutions

Resolutions to all problems identified during peer reviews are required
before the PDS accepts archive volumes.

## PDS Compliant Archive Volumes

The mission will deliver the data to PDS using methods and procedures
established by negotiation between the mission and the relevant
discipline node of PDS. All delivered data will be compliant with PDS
standards, including structuring into appropriate volumes where
appropriate. Most data products are delivered during KDP E, but relevant
data from the pre-flight calibration may be delivered during KDP C/D.

# Costing the Archive Activity 

Satisfactorily fulfilling archive requirements embodied in NRAs and AOs
can absorb a substantial amount of time and funds from a mission's
budget. However, how the mission organizes its archiving efforts
(designation of a Mission Archive Scientist, formation of a Data Archive
Working Group, etc.) and how the mission designs the archive and its
generation can significantly reduce the impact of archiving on the
mission team. Experience shows that including archive product generation
as an integral part of the data processing pipeline is likely to produce
the greatest single reduction in archiving costs for the mission in
terms of both time and money. Another opportunity for significant
savings arises from early archive design review and testing including
the production and review of sample data products. Early and frequent
interaction between the mission archiving activities and the PDS can
further reduce the overall archiving costs.

The PDS has developed a first-order model to estimate costs incurred by
a mission or instrument team in designing and delivering a PDS-compliant
archive. Although the model is based on recent archiving experience, it
is not a precise predictor of costs and should be used as a guide, not
as a rigorous prediction tool. It has been incorporated into a Microsoft
Excel spreadsheet, which will run on either a Windows or Macintosh
platform. The Mission Cost algorithm and tool are available for download
at:

<http://pds.nasa.gov/documents/pag/index.html>

###### ACRONYMS 

The table below lists acronyms and abbreviations used in this document.

  --------------- -------------------------------------------------------
  AO              Announcement of Opportunity

  AP              Archive Plan

  CDR             Critical Design Review

  CD-ROM          Compact Disc---Read-only Memory

  CODMAC          Committee On Data Management And Computation

  CSR             Concept Study Report

  DMAP            Data Management and Archiving Plan

  DMP             Data Management Plan

  DVD             Digital Versatile Disc

  FTE             Full Time Employee or Full Time Equivalent

  GDS             Ground Data System

  ICD             Interface Control Document

  MRR             Mission Readiness Review

  NAIF            Navigation and Ancillary Information

  NASA            National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  MOU             Memorandum of Understanding

  NRA             NASA Research Announcement

  NSSDC           National Space Science Data Center

  Ops             Operations

  PAG             Proposer's Archiving Guide

  PDR             Preliminary Design Review

  PDS             Planetary Data System

  PI              Principal Investigator

  KDP             Key Developmental Phase

  SIS             Software Interface Specification

  SPICE           Spacecraft ephemeris, Planet/satellite ephemeris,
                  Instrument information, Camera orientation, Event
                  information.

  TBD             To be determined

  URL             Uniform Resource Locator

  USGS            United States Geological Survey
  --------------- -------------------------------------------------------

Table **A**-1**.** Acronyms and abbreviations

###### NASA and CODMAC Processing Levels

  ------------ --------------- -------------------------------------------
  **NASA**     **CODMAC**      **Description**

  Packet data  Raw - Level 1   Telemetry data stream as received at the
                               ground station, with science and
                               engineering data embedded.

  Level-0      Edited - Level  Instrument science data (e.g., raw
               2               voltages, counts) at full resolution, time
                               ordered, with duplicates and transmission
                               errors removed.

  Level 1-A    Calibrated -    Level 0 data that have been located in
               Level 3         space and may have been transformed (e.g.,
                               calibrated, rearranged) in a reversible
                               manner and packaged with needed ancillary
                               and auxiliary data (e.g., radiances with
                               the calibration equations applied).

  Level 1-B    Resampled -     Irreversibly transformed (e.g., resampled,
               Level 4         remapped, calibrated) values of the
                               instrument measurements (e.g., radiances,
                               magnetic field strength).

  Level 1-C    Derived - Level Level 1A or 1B data that have been
               5               resampled and mapped onto uniform
                               space-time grids. The data are calibrated
                               (i.e., radiometrically corrected) and may
                               have addi­tional corrections applied (e.g.,
                               terrain correction).

  Level 2      Derived - Level Geophysical parameters, generally derived
               5               from Level 1 data, and located in space and
                               time commensurate with instrument location,
                               pointing, and sampling.

  Level 3      Derived - Level Geophysical parameters mapped onto uniform
               5               space-time grids.
  ------------ --------------- -------------------------------------------

Table B-1. NASA and CODMAC Definitions of Processing Levels for Science
Data Sets

######  ONLINE RESOURCES

The following resources may be of interest during proposal preparation
and are available electronically at either the designated URL or can be
located at the Proposers Archiving Guide (PAG) web page:

**http://pds.nasa.gov/documents/pag/index.html**

1.  PDS Home Page ([http://pds.nasa.gov](http://pds.nasa.gov/))

2.  PDS Standards Reference (JPL Document D-7669, Part 2) -Specific PDS
    data preparation standards for archive quality data sets.
    (<http://pds.nasa.gov/documents/sr/index.html>)

3.  PDS Data Dictionary - List of PDS-recognized keywords (and
    acceptable values where restrictions apply)
    (<http://pds.nasa.gov/documents/psdd/psdd.pdf>)

4.  PDS Data Dictionary Lookup Tool -- Search keywords and objects from
    PDS Data Dictionary
    (<http://pds.nasa.gov/tools/data_dictionary_lookup.cfm>)

5.  Proposer's Archiving Guide (PAG) (This document)
    (http://pds.nasa.gov/documents/pag/index.html)

6.  Mission Archiving Cost Analysis Model / Algorithm (listed on the PAG
    web page <http://pds.nasa.gov/documents/pag/index.html>)

-   Cost Analysis Algorithm (MSWord)

-   Cost Analysis Tool (XLS)

7.  Example Documents, Catalog Files, Products and Labels can be found
    on the PAG web page (<http://pds.nasa.gov/documents/pag/index.html>)
    such as:

-   Example Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

-   Example Data Management and Archiving Plan (DMAP)

-   Example Archiving Plan (AP)

-   SIS Template

-   Mission Catalog File

-   Data Set Catalog File

-   Data Product

-   Product Label

######  {#section .unnumbered}