ISTP SCIENCE DATA SYSTEMS AND PRODUCTS

The International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) program will provid e simultaneous coordinated scientific measurements from most of the ma jor areas of geospace including specific locations on the Earth's surf ace. This paper describes the comprehensive ISTP ground science data h andling system which has been developed to promote optimal mission pla nning and efficient data processing, analysis and distribution. The es sential components of this ground system are the ISTP Central Data Han dling Facility (CDHF), the Information Processing Division's Data Dist ribution Facility (DDF), the ISTP/Global Geospace Science (GGS) Scienc e Planning and Operations Facility (SPOF) and the NASA Data Archive an d Distribution Service (NDADS). The ISTP CDHF is the one place in the program where measurements from this wide variety of geospace and grou nd-based instrumentation and theoretical studies are brought together. Subsequently, these data will be distributed, along with ancillary da ta, in a unified fashion to the ISTP Principal Investigator (PI) and G o-Investigator (CoI) teams for analysis on their local systems. The CD HF ingests the telemetry streams, orbit, attitude, and command history from the GEOTAIL, WIND, POLAR, SOHO, and LMP-8 Spacecraft; computes s ummary data sets, called Key Parameters (KPs), for each scientific ins trument; ingests pre-computed KPs from other spacecraft and ground bas ed investigations; provides a computational platform for parameterized modeling; and provides a number of 'data services' for the ISTP commu nity of investigators. The DDF organizes the KPs, decommutated telemet ry, and associated ancillary data into products for distribution to th e ISTP community on CD-ROMs. The SPOF is the component of the GGS prog ram responsible for the development and coordination of ISTP science p lanning operations. The SPOF operates under the direction of the ISTP Project Scientist and is responsible for the development and coordinat ion of the science plan for ISTP spacecraft. Instrument command reques ts for the WIND and POLAR investigations are submitted by the PIs to t he SPOF where they are checked for science conflicts, forwarded to the GSFC Command Management System/Payload Operations Control Center (CMS /POCC) for engineering conflict validation, and finally incorporated i nto the conflict-free science operations plan. Conflict resolution is accomplished through iteration between the PIs, SPOF and CMS and in co nsultation with the Project Scientist when necessary. The long term ar chival of ISTP KP and level-zero data will be undertaken by NASA's Nat ional Space Science Data Center using the NASA Data Archive and Distri bution Service (NDADS). This on-line archive facility will provide rap id access to archived KPs and event data and includes security feature s to restrict access to the data during the time they are proprietary.