NSSDCA ID: PSPG-00508
Availability: At NSSDC, Ready for Offline Distribution (or Staging if Digital)
These CD-WO's represent the deep archive copies of the Viking Lander images retrieved from the Archive Experiment Data Record (EDR) magnetic tapes created during the Planetary Image Conversion Task. The Viking Lander imaging data was acquired by the two Viking Lander spacecraft on the surface of Mars. The image files are written in standard VICAR format with a variable number of label records followed by 512 line records. Each image file consists of 515 or more blocks (depending on the number of label records) containing a variable number of bytes per block. The number of bytes per block is equal to the number of scan lines taken by the camera, or 360, whichever is larger. Each pixel is represented as a 9-bit binary value, ranging from 0 to 255, which represents the actual 6-bit data value from the instrument times 4. The files were originally written on an IBM, so the VICAR labels are stored in EBCDIC. If the data is to be utilized on an ASCII platform, the labels must be either translated or skipped. Details of the data set are provided by Martin et al., ``Planetary Image Conversion Task: Final Report,'' JPL Publication 85-50, 1985, which is available from NSSDC. This publication includes the only catalog currently available for the data set. These data are archived on CD-WO. The CDs were created as part of the Science Digital Data Preservation Task of the Planetary Data System. The original data tapes (held in data set 71-051A-04a) were copied directly onto CD-WO.
This data set was created at JPL as part of its Science Digital Data Preservation Task (SDDPT), and a copy was provided to NSSDC for safekeeping. Numerous SDDPT data sets are not readily usable, as they represent bit copies of old data tapes and do not contain user documentation. Persons interested in ordering these data should contact the NSSDC person listed for this data set.
This is SPDSS ID 75-075C-0200, volumes VL_0001 - VL_0003
Questions and comments about this data collection can be directed to: Dr. David R. Williams
Name | Role | Original Affiliation | |
---|---|---|---|
Ms. Amy Hochstettler Culver | Data Provider | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | adc@mip17.jpl.nasa.gov |
Mr. Eric Eliason | General Contact | US Geological Survey | eeliason@usgs.gov |