Communications of the ACM
Space Scientists Create Common Data Hub, Universal Language For Mission Data
The new IMPEx data portal will allow space scientists to compare data from many different space missions.
Credit: Scientific Computing
A consortium of European researchers have debuted a new common data hub that will enable space scientists to compare data from numerous different space missions.
This task has previously been very difficult because space missions often use purpose-built instruments, as well as data acquisition and number-crunching tools that are built using mission-specific data structures and protocols; this results in reams of data that cannot be easily compared against data from other missions.
The new IMPEx portal provides space scientists with a single point of access to a suite of tools designed to make searching for, visualizing, and comparing space mission data much easier. The new portal will enable scientists to better understand complex observational data and to compare computer-simulated data with actual observational data.
The tools provided by IMPEx include the CDPP AMDA (Automated Multi-Dataset Analysis) tool, which offers scientists easy-to-use data-mining capabilities. Another tool is CDPP 3DView, which offers three-dimensional visualization capabilities for data such as spacecraft trajectories and planetary ephemerides.
The first application of the IMPEx tools was a detailed comparison of observational data from the European Space Agency's Venus Express mission and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Messenger mission to Mercury against existing simulation models.
From Austrian Academy of Sciences
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