Data Center for Space Science

Overview
Data Center Details
Data Available

The Center for Space Science (CSS) has established a Data Center for Space Science (DCSS), which acquires, archives, manages and processes selected scientific data sets from space missions.

The DCSS handles, in particular, observations from ground and space-based Solar missions and the Kepler space missions. These data are made publicly available by NASA as a matter of its policy, but local infrastructure in the UAE are required to acquire and analyse the data locally. The DCSS is making these observations available to all institutions in the UAE.

The CSS intends to host workshops to train interested users in downloading and analyzing these data, and to offer internships and other opportunities to Emiratis to develop skills in data acquisition, handling and analysis. Such skills should build relevant capacity for facilitating research studies associated with the Emirates Mars Mission.

The DCSS will soon support data from other space missions, e.g. HOPE, Solar Orbiter, TESS, and PLATO (launch 2026). DCSS's openness towards the UAE community (academic institutions and research centers) is an essential aspect of this project.

Center for Space Science
The shared database management system netDRMS is installed to mirror data series from other international data centers, e.g., from Stanford University and from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany.

NASA policy stipulates that its data are publicly accessible, without restriction. The data sets are transferred to the NYUAD DCSS from the USA (metadata) and from Europe (data) via automatic streaming using the netDRMS softward. Expert scientists and students from the UAE (including MBRSC) and from other international locations have full access to the data in the DCSS. All SDO and Kepler observations and other important data (e.g., helioseismic data products, stellar model grids) are stored in the archive and backed up by default.

The DCSS is currently operational with over 5 TB of data available, with plans for future expansion. The number of papers that can be directly attributed to use of the Data Center is growing fast, with 8 papers over the last two years.

SDO satellite
Data Series
- From the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory
  
  Vector magnetic field data
  
  45 sec dull disk Doppler images [4 Carrington Rotations]
  
  12 min full disk Line of sight magnetograms [1 Carrington Rotation]
  
  45 sec full disk Intensity images [1 Carrington Rotation]
  
  15 degree ring fits and flow maps [10 years]
  
  Spherical harmonic time series [2010-2020]
  
  Global mode fit paramters [2010-2020]
  
  Local Correlation Tracking (LCT) flow maps [2010-2020]
  
  Full disk daily averaged magnetograms [2010-2020]
  
  From the Magnetic and Doppler Imager (MDI) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  
  Spherical harmonic time series [1996-2010]
  
  Global mode fit parameters [1996-2010]
  
  Full disk daily averaged magnetograms [1996-2010]
  
  From the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory
  
  304 Angstrom full disk data [2010-2018 at 12h cadence]
  
  From the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG)
  
  GONG 15 degree ring fits and flow maps [2001-2020]
  
  From the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission
  
  STEREO full disk images [8 years at 12h cadence]
  
  Coming Soon:
  
  150-foot solar tower at Mount Wilson Observatory: magnetograms and Dopplergrams -- until 2012
  
  Wilcox Solar Observatory magnetograms and Dopplergrams
  
  VIRGO SPM channels -- Since 1996. VIRGO/SPM measures solar brightness variations in the solar continuum in three filters centered on 402 nm (blue), 500 nm (green), and 862 nm (red) with a temporal cadence of 1 min. Maximum sensitivity is near the base of the solar photosphere. We transfer data from January 1996 until June 2018, covering solar cycles 23 and 24. Sun-as-a-star data are useful to validate asteroseismic methods.
  
  VIRGO/PMO6 radiometer. Same as above, but for the total solar irradiance (TSI).
  
  Helioseismic farside images from the Stanford pipeline -- since 1996
- Currently available:
  
  Approx 1000 light curves and spectra for Kepler stars, including all Legacy stars and several KOIs
  
  A few TESS solar-like stars
  
  Coming soon:
  
  Whole Kepler light-curve catalogue
- Currently available:
  
  MAVEN
  
  MSL (Curiosity)
  
  Coming soon:
  
  HOPE mission data
  
  Mars Express data

Contact Us

Center for Space Science

Chris S. Hanson
Data Center Coordinator
Email: ch3246@nyu.edu