P1

1

• CDAWeb
• Easy data browse and display, allowing
  user-specified time and parameter subsets with
  graphics, listings, file downloads
• Multi-mission, multi-disciplinary, current data
• 2.3 TB, 1,080,000 files, 300 public datasets
• Now includes TIMED GUVI, TIDI data and graphics
• Cassini / Transverse Mercator mapped projections
  of global wind vectors and Oxygen 1304Å
  intensities

• SSCWeb
• Multi-mission orbits, with graphics and
  conjunction logic for coordinated science
  planning
• Ongoing updates
• Java-based interactive 3-D orbits (TIPSOD)

2

• CDF (Common Data Format)
• Used by many missions
• Vers. 3.0 (Feb 2005) gt 64-bit internal file
  model
• Work with several science software packages (IDL,
  MatLab)
• Data Format Translation Service
• CDF lt-gt FITS, netCDF, HDF, ASCII

• OMNIWeb
• Field, plasma, particle hourly averages at 1 AU
• COHOWeb and HelioWeb
• Multi-mission deep-space fields, plasma,
  positions
• FTPBrowser

• Display system for ASCII-formatted data sets
• Includes capability for filtering and
  scatter-plots
• New Bow-Shock and Magnetopause Crossing Databases
  (King, Kessel, Papitashvili)
• ModelWeb
• Information, source codes, and ability to run
  select space physics models

3

• Unique Community Resources
• Scope of data holdings multi-mission services
• SSCWeb database and unique functions supported
• OMNI near-Earth 40-year interplanetary baseline
• CDF supports multiple programs (including planned
  STEREO and THEMIS

4

• Citations gt107 in 2003
• Services data (W NSSDC)
• Resources are heavily used (plots, lists, files,
  queries)
• Many regular distinct science users e.g. 900
  CDAWeb
• International sharing of data
• Data include e.g. Cluster (as US CSDC) and
  Ulysses
• CDAWeb mirror sites

• Use variety of technologies
• FTP access plus S/W (e.g. CDAWLib and CDFX)
• Html-based user I/F
• Web-services application I/F
• New Java-based clients (with Webstart
  installations)
• CDAWLib and CDAWeb s/w are now open-source

5
Relevance and Role in eGY

• Powerful collection of existing capabilities
• Already serving current data and orbit
  information from most NASA and other space
  physics missions, as well as some ground-based
  data
• Data and capabilities are available both through
  direct web and/or Java user interfaces and
  substantially also through network-accessible
  APIs to support services and clients including
  those of the proposed NASA Virtual Discipline
  Observatories (VxOs)
• Already multiple international mirror sites
• Core CDAWeb s/w and the underlying CDF standard
  data format s/w are now open source
• Current S3C Active Archive services such as
  CDAWeb and SSCWeb are fully capable and expected
  to support additional new missions
• Highly extensible to support additional data from
  existing missions and a wide range of other new
  data sources
• With limited resources, science data providers
  should first focus to producing and validating
  basic data
• Efforts like those of SPDF/S3CAA can then point
  to these products and sites or work these data
  products in turn to uniformize their formats and
  serve them as an integrated part of existing
  multi-mission, multi-disciplinary capabilities
• Where data are already or can be made public at
  least by simple FTP/HTTP directories
• New CDAWeb Plus interface now capable of offering
  users an integrated view and data retrieval from
  distributed data sources in a CDAWeb paradigm
  I.e. from multiple sources in a single user
  request

6
Future Paradigms

• Virtual Observatories in S3C
• Virtual Discipline Observatory (VxO) paradigm for
  Sun-Space-Geospace research community might be
  defined as a vision of a future Solar-Terrestrial
  data environment
• Where data, models and services can be highly
  distributed
• While end users see an integrated view, and where
• All potentially-useful data are findable,
  accessible, useable
• Appropriate services across mission-instrument
  boundaries
• Organized and customized to specific science
  discipline needs
• Sun Solar System Great Observatory
• Fleet of existing missions is the foundation for
  the initial spiral in pursuing the NASAs
  exploration initiative
• Living With a Star (LWS)
• International ILWS, IHY and eGY

SPDF/S3CAA Strategy
7
Next Steps

• Advertising and Dialogue
• eGY and other programs need to understand what
  SPDF/S3CAA has to contribute
• SPDF/S3CAA needs to understand If/ what eGY and
  its science community can utilize and how
• And what more or different might be more useful
• Data Perspective
• First necessity for maximum utility is enabling
  useful access to the right data from a full range
  of relevant data sources
• Right Current, high-resolution, high-quality,
  useful parameters
• Science function to define in detail right and
  relevant
• Cooperative effort with distributed community of
  data generators/providers and other data
  services, including VxO discipline groups as
  these become active
• Technical Perspective
• Maintain the core of present capabilities
• Do what is necessary to support new data
• Includes ongoing effort to keep CDF modern
• Special emphasis on new missions but also range
  of potential international data sources relevant
  to NASA science
• Complete implementation of webservices APIs
• Key to distributed access and evolution of
  services
• Continue enhancements to interfaces and functions

8
SECAA Services in the Context of VxOs

• Virtual Observatory (VO) paradigm for
  Sun-Space-Geospace research community might be
  defined as a vision of a future Solar-Terrestrial
  data environment
• Where data, models and services can be highly
  distributed
• While end users see an integrated view, and where
• All potentially-useful data are readily findable,
  accessible, useable
• With appropriate services and across
  mission-instrument boundaries
• VO is similar to the Virtual Space Laboratory
  concept proposed several years ago as a Roadmap
  effort
• VxO strategy to build the new data environment by
  leveraging existing capabilities, while those
  capabilities evolve in turn to talk to the new
  data environment
• Want a flexible long-term architecture delivering
  over time the best services at the lowest
  effective cost
• Technology gt hybrid solution with both
  distributed and centralized service elements
  whose mix will change

9
Short-Term Plans

• Retain (build) excellence utility of what
  works now
• Must maintain performance and reliability
• Access to more ( higher quality/content)
  ( distributed) data
• New services (e.g. FTP Data Finder),
  functions and I/F flexibility
• Data, models, and services through multiple paths
• FTP (filess/w), service user-I/Fs (html, Java),
  Web Service APIs
• Data and capabilities available to early SEC VxOs
• Via Web Services with XML/WSDL-SOAP for
  communications, URL pointers to result files
  (data files or service products)
• Exploit these extensions directly (Java-based
  clients, using WebStart for easy installation
  e.g. SSCWeb 3D interactive plots)
• Support mapping to evolving SEC data dictionary
  (SPASE effort)

10
Virtual Observatory Technical Questions, Concerns
and Personal Observations

• Technology is only one part of making the right
  data fully accessible to the required user
  community
• Resource and cultural issues must have ongoing
  attention
• Full data requirements to accomplish a science
  program (e.g. LWS) needed center-stage early
  within effective data policy framework
• Software is only one part (if perhaps the most
  fun) of the problem
• Primary consideration in implementing Virtual
  Observatories must be effective and adequate
  service to the end users of the data
• Users need ability to perform a full range of
  functions
• Users need to be able to accomplish functions
  quickly
• Users need to be able to perform functions
  predictably
• What worked yesterday should work today
• Software libraries and simple file
  finding/retrieval can offer high functional
  (analysis) capabilities
• But software takes time to install and learn to
  operate
• May not readily integrate data from different
  sources
• May have issues with platforms and reliance on
  commercial s/w
• Many users want/need more than simple file
  finding and retrieval (even with supporting s/w)
• And need functions across mission / dataset
  boundaries

11
Contact information mailtorobert.e.mcguire
_at_nasa.gov

• Not everything may make sense to distribute
• User wall-clocktime is the most valuable
  commodity
• Plus development and maintenance resources of
  couse
• WAN transfer times are still a design issue
• Often better to store multi-source data at the
  service host
• Data service architecture with almost all work
  done at the server end and talking to thin (very
  basic browser) clients is fairly robust
• Can be made to work almost every time for almost
  everybody
• Duplicated" disk storage is one more tool (and
  OK if it works)
• Can allow less complex s/w development and
  maintenance
• Allows work offline preparing diverse data for
  common service
• NASA science research community uses (and will
  use) many distinct operating systems (and
  versions), hardware and software platforms
• Complex functionality built on distributed data
  and smart desktop clients will present
  cross-platform and maintenance challenges
• E.g. Web services to talk to both Java and .NET
  clients
• E.g. Testing for client development and support
  for easy installation across multiple platforms
• E.g. Deployed web services infrastructure may
  become hard to change or evolve (as technology
  evolves, as new requirements are identified) as
  more clients are developed
• Were changing our web service I/F but are you
  able/willing to change your client as we change
  and evolve over time?
• KISS will always be important for effective
  services, software installation/operation and
  interfaces

12
See Landscape for overall poster layout and
printing instructions
13
The Redesigned SPDF Website

• The Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF) at Goddard
  has just opened a revamped website both to
  enhance more unified access to the services
  funded under the Sun Solar System Connection
  Active Archive (S3CAA) effort as well as other
  activities and services with SPDF.

• The website features a Data and Orbits
  interactive page that allows users to readily
  identify which services support data from which
  missions