The NAIF Node

PDSMC Report

April 2, 2009

Charles Acton

2

Spacecraft

Planet

Earth

Sun

Solar System Barycenter

What is SPICE?

Time ConversionCalculations

Logs of Commandsand Events

Other

and size/shapeof planet

and size/shapeof Earth

Sizes/shapes Instrumentreference frame

Antennareferenceframe

EME 2000reference frame(J2000)

Reference frames

Orientationof spacecraft

Orientations

Orientation

Orientation

Relative positionsof spacecraft and

solar system bodies

Positions

Pointing ofInstrumentfield-of-view

Pointing

TheSolar

System

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The “Five Faces of NAIF”

Core SPICESystem

Development

SPICE Deploymentand Operations

(JPL planetary missions)

NAIF Nodeof the PDS

Development Flight Operations Archive Operations

32%

15%

23% 24%

NASA funded supportfor ESA’s MEX, VEX and

Rosetta Missions

6%

AMMOS Funding of some SPICE extensions,

bug fixes and porting

4

Use of SPICEin Mission Operations

Mission funded NAIF support

No funded NAIF support

Did not use SPICE

Past Current AnticipatedMagellan [L] Cassini Orbiter NASA Mars ProgramClementine (NRL) Mars Odyssey NASA Discovery ProgramMars Observer Mars Exploration Rover NASA Scout ProgramMars 96 [F] (RSA) Mars Express (ESA) NASA New Frontiers ProgramHubble Space Telescope [S] Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Europa OrbiterISO [S] (ESA) DAWN Grunt (RSA)MSTI-3 (NRL/ACT Corp.) New Horizons Future ISRO planetary missionsOptical Transient Detector MessengerMars Pathfinder Mars Science LabMars Climate Orbiter [F] Rosetta (ESA)

Mars Polar Lander [F] Venus Express (ESA) Future ?NEAR Hayabusa (JAXA) ConstellationDeep Space 1 Kaygua (JAXA) ExoMars (ESA)CONTOUR [F] NExT, EPOXISpace VLBI [L] (multinational) LCROSSNozomi [F] (JAXA) Lunar Reconnaissance OrbiterGalileo JunoGenesis Chandrayaan (ISRO)Deep Impact Planet-C (JAXA)Huygens Probe (ESA) Beppi Colombo (ESA)StardustMars Global Surveyor Kepler [L]Smart-1 (ESA) Planck [L] (ESA)Spitzer Space Telescope [L] WISE [L]PhoenixLunar Prospector NASA Deep Space Network

Use of SPICE is TBD

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SPICE Archive Operations

(To be) Archived at NAIF

(To be) Archived elsewhere SPICE data not archived

Past Current AnticipatedMagellan [L] Cassini Orbiter NASA Mars ProgramClementine (NRL) Mars Odyssey NASA Discovery ProgramMars Observer Mars Exploration Rover NASA Scout ProgramMars 96 [F] (RSA) Mars Express (ESA) NASA New Frontiers ProgramHubble Space Telescope [S] Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Europa OrbiterISO [S] (ESA) DAWN Grunt (RSA)MSTI-3 (NRL/ACT Corp.) New Horizons Future ISRO planetary missionsOptical Transient Detector MessengerMars Pathfinder Mars Science LabMars Climate Orbiter [F] Rosetta (ESA)

Mars Polar Lander [F] Venus Express (ESA) Future ?NEAR Hayabusa (JAXA) ConstellationDeep Space 1 Kaygua (JAXA) ExoMars (ESA)CONTOUR [F] NExT, EPOXISpace VLBI [L] (multinational) LCROSSNozomi [F] (JAXA) Lunar Reconnaissance OrbiterGalileo JunoGenesis Chandrayaan (ISRO)Deep Impact Planet-C (JAXA)Huygens Probe (ESA) Beppi Colombo (ESA)Stardust Kepler [L]Mars Global Surveyor Planck [L] (ESA)Smart-1 (ESA) WISE [L]Spitzer Space Telescope [L]PhoenixLunar Prospector

No SPICE data producedNo SPICE archiving planned

Archive situation TBD

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Examples of “Recent” Accomplishments

• IDL© interface to SPICE• MATLAB© interface to

SPICE• “Geometry finder”

subsystem• Alpha-test version of new

shape models:– tessellated plate model– digital elevation model

• Ephemeris comparison tool

• Reference frames comparison tool

• All documentation is hyperlinked

• All mission SPICE data are promptly archived

• “FURNSH” kernels provide convenient aggregations of related SPICE data files

• SPICE Archiving Guide and allied tools produced and distributed

• Improvements to training materials

– Programming lessons

– Tutorials

• SPICE training classes held in U.S., Europe and India

• Numerous website improvements, including Google access to all documents and “subroutines”

Core SPICE Development NAIF Node

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Examples of Planned Work

• Python and Java interfaces to SPICE

• Extend the “geometry finder” subsystem

• Complete the shape model subsystem

• Ephemeris selection aide

• Frame construction and visualization tool

• Comet/asteroid ephemeris system improvements

• All mission SPICE data archived on time

• More SPICE training materials

• More SPICE training classes– Possibly an advanced class, too

• Website improvements• Participate in PDS2010• Participate in IPDA?• Resolve issues pertaining to

involvement with foreign and non-PSD mission support

• Establish a viable node backup arrangement

Core SPICE Development* NAIF Node

*Some involve AMMOS co-funding

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How SPICE Gets Used by PDS Nodes

Computation ofGeometry Datafor addition to

Archived Science Data

Generation ofCustomer-requested

CustomGeometry Files

• for a mission • for an instrument

OldAncillary

DataRestoration

Validationof Data

During PeerReviews

Possible further use of SPICE

On-the-flyGeometry

Calculationsin support ofData Product

Searches(“geometry engine?”)

NAIF-BuiltSPICE ToolsSupporting

Data Analysis

Use ofToolkit

Softwarein Node-specific

Tools

More/better

( time… kind of )

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NAIF’s Perception of Customer’s Opinions

• SPICE works quite well– Used by all NASA planetary

missions– Adopted by many non-

planetary missions– Adopted by all major foreign

space agencies– Hundreds of users– Very few bugs/errors– Very few complaints

• Principal complaints– AIF is slow to provide:

» new language interfaces » new supported platforms» new capabilities

• NAIF does pretty well– SPICE data archives are on time,

correct, complete, and well documented

– Customer support is excellent

– Lots of use of the web pages and NAIF server

– Very few complaints

• Principal complaints– Substantial learning curve

– With so much documentation, it’s hard to know what to look at

– Need to offer more classes

– Can be hard to select needed data file(s)

» (This applies more to mission operations data than to archived data)

Core SPICE Development NAIF Node

Based in part on customer emails and face-to-face discussions

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Toolkit Download Metrics

• N61: 224712/4/06 - 2/25/08

– Fortran: 600

– C: 1162

– IDL: 483

– MATLAB: n/a

• N62: 2734 (up 21% over N61)3/5/08 - 3/15/09

– Fortran: 673

– C: 1200

– IDL: 383

– MATLAB: 478

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NAIF’s View of Its Challenges

• Our work lists are long and getting longer

• Maintaining all we offer is very time consuming

– lots of code– lots of languages– lots of platforms– lots of documents

and will become more so as we continue to add new capabilities, new languages and new platforms.

• Some non-JPL NASA projects are unprepared to produce good and complete SPICE data sets

• The current central catalog interface to archived SPICE data does not work well

• Preparing for and conducting training classes takes a great deal of effort–principally because SPICE continues to evolve

• Helping users takes a good deal of time, especially for those who are neophytes or are in a hurry

• If/when/how to deal with foreign planetary missions remains largely a mystery

• Need to finish ancillary data restorations

Core SPICE Development NAIF Node

In addition to the issues noted on the previous chart…

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Questions for PDSMC - 1

• What problems have you discerned, or heard about?

– regarding Core SPICE Development

– regarding NAIF Node Operations

• Are SPICE Development and NAIF Node Operations appropriately integrated into the PDS enterprise? Where might improvements be made?

• What are your recommendations for modification to NAIF’s plans for future work*?

– regarding Core SPICE Development?

– regarding NAIF Node Operations?

* NAIF can provide more details on planned work to anyone interested in this

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Questions for PDSMC - 2

• Peer review question– NAIF insists on “identical” data set organization, contents and

quality for all SPICE archives– Most archived SPICE data sets are submitted by NAIF as “not

peer reviewed”– Based on the successful pipeline peer review for the MGS

SPICE data set, and the successful peer review under SBN cognizance of the Stardust and Deep Impact SPICE data sets, can NAIF declare all submitted data sets as peer reviewed?

» The data sets in question are Clementine, Cassini, Deep Space-1, MERs, Messenger, MRO, Odyssey and Viking Orbiter

• Should “SPICE” become THE (required) NASA standard for ancillary data from planetary missions?

– If “no”, and in any case, if mission X proposes to archive some other form of ancillary data, what is to be done, and by whom?

Questions for NASA

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NAIF Challenges Beyond PDS

• The use of SPICE has grown beyond the scope of our funding– Increasing requests for help, but no funding/staff for this support

» PSD missions, such as the U.S. Chandrayaan-1 instruments

» Non-PSD missions, such as WISE, Kepler, LRO/LCROSS

» Foreign missions, such as SMART-1, Planet-C (JAXA), Beppi Colombo (ESA), GRUNT (RSA) and Chandrayaan (ISRO)

» Engineering, such as navigation and mission design

» Deep Space Network

» Technology applications (e.g. optical com)

» E/PO, to support visualizations

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The SPICE Challenge - 1

“Doing SPICE” is a bit harder than falling off a log!

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The SPICE Challenge - 2

• There are three phases of “doing SPICE” #1: Producing SPICE files for use during mission operations #2: Producing a high quality SPICE archive #3: Consuming SPICE files in support of science or engineering

activities

• In “the early days” only NAIF would do #1 and #2– Thus our training efforts focused on #3

• In recent years the addition of planetary mission operations centers (APL, GSFC, Ames), and the spread of SPICE use beyond planetary missions and beyond NASA, has increased requests for NAIF support for all three items.

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The SPICE Challenge - 3

• NAIF has substantially addressed #2 for NASA’s planetary missions

– But does not cover other missions except for MEX, VEX and Rosetta

• Helping end users with #3 will be a never-ending effort, especially as more capabilities become available and as new users come along

– Improved training materials– More training classes– ? Better navigation through NAIF resources– ? More/better “getting started” information– ? More tools– ? More trained experts that can help new users

• How to deal with #1 when NAIF is not the producer is a question

– Producing and validating quality SPICE kernels requires real knowledge and effort

– Some projects pay insufficient attention to this activity– When NAIF is not the kernels producer, generally NAIF has no

resources to help» Neither legal authority nor staff

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NAIF is at a Crossroads

Strengthen NAIF and SPICE to

robustly serve those who wish to use it, with NASA help in

arranging appropriate

support?

Restrict NAIF and SPICE to serve just

those who are currently purchasing these services, or for

whom the services have been

purchased?

?

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Questions for NASA - 1

• What, if anything, should NAIF do to help “outside” entities learn to to produce and to use SPICE ancillary data?

– NASA PSD missions operated at other than JPL?» MESSENGER, New Horizons, …

• (MESS and NH are actually in good shape, but there could be others in the future that won’t benefit from an in-house SPICE expert)

– NASA non-PSD missions?» Kepler, WISE, LRO*, LCROSS*, LADEE, …

• (Note: LRO and LCROSS will eventually become PSD/PDS missions)

– Foreign planetary missions» BeppiColombo, Planet-C, Grunt, ExoMars, …

– Foreign non-planetary missions» Planck, some TBD JAXA missions,…

– And more» Deep Space Network, optical communications technology

experiments, U.S. military, …

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• What, if any, SPICE data from foreign missions should be archived at the NAIF Node of the PDS?

– Why should it be archived at NAIF?

» Why duplicate what another nation/agency is doing?

» How could NAIF claim to provide expert advice about ancillary data from a mission where we had no involvement?

» What if those ancillary/SPICE data are of very poor quality?

– NAIF’s current position is to not do such archiving except where NAIF has a prior contract with NASA to do so (ESA’s MEX, VEX and Rosetta missions)

– Consider…

» What do/would those foreign space agencies want done?

» What about the IPDA; will it provide access to SPICE data archived by other agencies?

• (What ancillary data standards will IPDA adopt, if any?)

Questions for NASA - 2

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• What posture should NAIF take if/when the IPDA takes up the question of ancillary data standards?

– Promote and help implement use of SPICE?» To what extent?» NASA needs to provide support consistent with whatever are the its

directives– Pull SPICE back to being just a NASA standard?

» Then NAIF likely needs to build translators, interfaces and validation checks to whatever IPDA does pick as its ancillary data standard

• Should NAIF promote SPICE internationally independent of the IPDA?

– If IPDA is not able or not willing to, or cannot timely address ancillary data standards, tools and processes

– When/how make this decision?– Need NASA support consistent with whatever are the its directives

Questions for NASA - 3

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• What outreach activities should NAIF undertake, if any?

– Information/Help desk at major meetings?

» DPS, LPSC, AGU, EGU, etc.

– Presentations (poster or paper) at major meetings?

» DPS, LPSC, AGU, EGU, SpaceOps, ISPRS, etc.

– Offer SPICE training at new venues?

» COSPAR Capacity Building Workshops, International Space University, intro class at XX university specifically for university students, etc.

– Your suggestions?

Questions for NASA - 4