The planetary data system

The Planetary Data System: A Vital Component in NASA’s Science Exploration Program

“…NASA established the PDS in 1989 as the scientifically guided archive for planetary science, in order to address concerns that the data being returned by scientific missions was in danger of being lost and/or becoming unusable. The original design of the PDS was guided by the recognition that archiving and curation should be carried out by the scientists who care most about the data [Arvidson et al, 1994]. In that spirit, the PDS adopted a federated structure of nodes organized around science disciplines, which has remained remarkably resilient through the growth in the archive over the past 30 years.…”