The NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA) serves as the permanent archive for NASA space science mission data. "Space science" includes astronomy and astrophysics, solar and space plasma physics, and planetary and lunar science. As the permanent archive, NSSDCA teams with NASA's discipline-specific space science "active archives" which provide access to data to researchers and, in some cases, to the general public. NSSDCA also serves as NASA's permanent archive for space physics mission data. It provides access to several geophysical models and to data from some non-NASA mission data. NSSDCA was called the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) prior to March 2015.
NSSDCA supports active space physics and astrophysics researchers. Web-based services allow the NSSDCA to support the general public. This support is in the form of information about spacecraft and access to digital versions of selected imagery. NSSDCA also provides access to portions of their database contains information about data archived at NSSDCA (and, in some cases, other facilities), the spacecraft which generate space science data and experiments which generate space science data. NSSDCA services also included are data management standards and technologies.[1]
NSSDCA is part of the Solar System Exploration Data Services Office (SSEDSO) in the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. NSSDCA is sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. NSSDCA acts in concert with various NASA discipline data systems in providing certain data and services.[1]
NSSDCA was first established (as NSSDC) at Goddard Space Flight Center in 1966. NSSDCA's staff consists largely of physical scientists, computer scientists, analysts, programmers, and data technicians. Staffing level, including civil service and onsite contractors, has ranged between 15 and 100 over the life of NSSDCA. Early in its life, NSSDCA accumulated data primarily on 7-track and 9-track tape and on various photoproducts, and all data dissemination was via media replication and mailing. Starting in the mid-1980s, NSSDCA received and disseminated increasing data volumes via electronic networks. Dissemination formats are presently via the internet, either via HTTP or FTP.[1]
The NSSDC Master Catalog is available for the queries pertaining to information about data that are archived at the NSSDC as well as for supplemental information via the following query mechanisms:
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.