Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufmsm11b1620a&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #SM11B-1620
Other
2104 Cosmic Rays, 2114 Energetic Particles (7514), 2199 General Or Miscellaneous
Scientific paper
Goals for spaceflight investigations include the discovery and characterization of physical features of the in- situ and remote environment. Abundant successes of flight investigations are easily documented. Prudent scientific practice dictates that to the maximum extent possible, observations should be well-characterized, reliably catalogued, and knowledgeably interpreted. This is especially true of data sets used in the publication of results in the reviewed literature. Typical scientific standards include making primary data numbers available to other investigators for replicated study. While NASA's contracts with investigators have required that data be submitted to agency official archives, the details, completeness (especially of ancillary and metadata) and forms differ from investigation to investigation and project to project. After several generations of improvements and refinements, modern computing and communications technology makes it possible to link multiple data sets at multiple locations through a unified data model. Virtual Observatories provide the overall organizational structures and SPASE-compliant XML defines the data granules that can be located. Proofs of the feasibility and value of this latest approach remain to be seen, but its ultimate goal of improving archival research using flight-derived data sets appears to depend on user acceptance and efficient use of the VxO resources. Criteria based on the authors experience in science derived from archival sources follow: 1. Interfaces and tools must be easy to learn, easy to use, and reliable. 2. Data numbers must be promptly downloadable in plain text. 3. Data must be available in or readily converted to physical units using calibrations and algorithms easily traceable as part of the search. Knowledge about (or heritage of) specific data items present in the science literature must be associated with the search for that item. 4. Data items must be trustworthy, having quoted uncertainties and available history where versioning has occurred. While these are challenging criteria to meet-especially in succinct form-the use of archival data for valid science publication requires that these criteria are achieved. The full presentation will illustrate and expand on these criteria.
Armstrong Thomas P.
Manweiler Jerry W.
Patterson James D.
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