SAWG Letter and GroundBased Archiving

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SAWG Letter and Ground-Based Archiving

• AAAC, Feb 16, 2005
• Alan Smale, Universe Division
• NASA HQ

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Science Archive Working Group

• Charter
• The Science Archives Working Group (SAWG) will
  serve as a standing working group for both the
  Structure and Evolution of the Universe (SEU) and
  Origins Subcommittees of the Space Science
  Advisory Committee. It will provide assistance on
  topics and issues concerning science data
  management, science data archives, and
  computational science. The group will discuss
  issues pertinent to the Program Executives for
  MODA and Program Executives for science data and
  computing technology programs within the AP
  Division. Some specific functions to be
  performed
• Provide assistance on all issues concerning
  science data management, data archive centers and
  services, and computer and data systems
  technologies
• Serve as a sounding board for data management,
  archiving, and computing concepts and issues
  
• Inform the science community of science archives
  policies and missions
  
• Present the views of the community on these
  issues and
  
• Provide guidance on the content of, and the
  priorities among, data archive centers and
  services.

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Science Archive Working Group

• Chair is a member of the SEU or Origins
  subcommittee the Deputy Chair is a member of the
  other.
  
• Three-year terms, rotating.
• Current Membership

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NASA and Ground-Based Data

• SAWG is sometimes asked its opinion regarding
  whether NASA should archive ground-based data.
  
• SAWGs general position is that ground-based data
  should be archived by the ground-based community
  (funded by NSF, DOE where appropriate.
  
• Division is not clear-cut, stemming from a NASA
  presence in ground-based observing.
  
• Tremendous synergy between space-based and
  ground-based data sets.
  
• Two examples Keck, SDSS.
• SAWG requests a policy statement regarding the
  archiving of ground-based data at NASA-funded
  archive centers

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Example 1 Keck

• NASA receives a minority fraction of the
  observing time at the Keck Observatory, to
  support studies of planets in the Solar System
  and around other stars.
• NASA established an archive to collect these data
  (largely taken with HIRES).
  
• No general archive exists for the non-NASA data.
  With a little additional effort, all HIRES data
  could be archived at the Keck Observatory
  Archive.
• Most sensible course would be for majority Keck
  members (Caltech, U. Hawaii, U. Calif) to develop
  archive jointly with NASA, sharing costs.
  
• If not, should NASA still proceed in archiving
  all Level 0 HIRES data, given the modest cost of
  the augmentation and likely benefits?

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Example 2 SDSS

• Sloan Digital Sky Survey archived at Fermilab,
  properly formatted, but with no long-term home.
  
• SDSS team has raised issue of whether this
  archive could be taken over by an existing NASA
  archive center.
  
• (Precedent Digital Sky Survey.)
• SAWG believes SDSS is a perfect example of a
  project where the NSF or DOE can start doing
  serious archiving work, and NASA archives can
  offer experience.

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SAWG request

• (1) SAWG does not request rulings on these
  examples, but rather a general statement on NASA
  policy regarding the archiving of ground-based
  data, as this crosses the boundaries between
  Agencies.
• (2) SAWG would like to know whether the AAAC has
  formulated (or may in the future formulate) any
  general policies relating to archiving of
  ground-based data, and whether there is a vision
  for the formation of archives from ground-based
  observatories.