RAD data sets

Data Set Overview

This data set contains data that is useful for determining the energetic particle environment experienced by the Mars Science Laboratory rover at the surface of Mars. The EDR data products are raw data reconstructed from telemetry data products and formatted according to the RAD EDR Software Interface Specification (EDR SIS).

Processing

The Committee On Data Management and Computation (CODMAC) data level numbering system is used to describe the processing level of the EDR data product. RAD EDR data products are considered CODMAC Level 2 or Edited Data (equivalent to NASA level 0) products. The EDR data files are generated from Level 1 or Raw Data, which are the telemetry packets.

After stripping away telemetry wrappers, the binary RAD observational data packets are split into individual data products and then concatenated in chronological order. The data are further organized into sols. Therefore, an EDR data file contains a single data product from all the RAD observations taken over a Mars sol, as determined by the start time of the observation. It is possible that an observation may begin in one sol and extend into the next, but it will be archived only as data within the starting sol. If data from one or more sols is incomplete, missing, or corrupted, the file will exclude these data. An updated EDR will be generated if and when the data becomes available.

Data

Each RAD EDR product consists of two files. The first file is an ASCII formatted detached PDS label. The second file is a binary data file for a RAD product. The data in a RAD EDR file is a copy of what was in the RAD memory buffer. That is, the EDR consists of unprocessed experiment data stored in binary format. All EDR data products are of one of the following product types, as identified in the EDR SIS: Diagnostics, DoBist, Fault, Science. Within these data types, there are a total of 13 possible data products with a three letter code indicating which product is contained within an EDR file:

• Diagnostic Products
  • Diagnostic Housekeeping = 'EDH'
  • Diagnostic RAE = 'ERA'
  • Diagnostic System Informatin = 'EDS'
  • Diagnostic Messages = 'EDM'
  • Diagnostic Table Checksums = 'ETX'
  • Diagnostic EEPROM Write = 'EEW'
  • Diagnostic Other = 'EDO'
• DoBist Products
  • DoBist = 'EDB'
• Fault Products
  • Fault Housekeeping = 'EFH'
  • Fault RAE = 'EFR'
  • Fault System Information = 'EFS'
• Science Products
  • High Priority Science Data = 'EHP'
  • Science Data = 'ESD'

Software

A Python and/or C reader program called rad2asc will be available to convert the RAD EDR binary format data into ASCII format. This reader will be archived with the EDR data products.

Media/Format

The data set will be delivered and kept online.