| Quick-Start Introduction to PDS Archiving |
 |
Criteria for Checking Archive Quality
A data set is suitable for PDS archiving if:
- The data are relatively static over a timescale of several years.
Note, however, that some special data sets, like the asteroid
identification list, have new information added to them on a
regular basis. The existing data at any given point, however,
are static (i.e., asteroids do not, generally speaking, change
names, although new designations may be added).
- The data are not readily derived from some other source.
A data set of orbital elements for asteroids might be archival,
for example,
but ephemeris tables would not, since they are easily
created when the need arises.
- The data are scientifically significant.
Shortcomings in documentation or hardware problems discovered
after the observations were recorded, for example, may render some
data sets (or
parts of data sets) meaningless. Or, a later data set may supersede
the one being reviewed, in which case an attempt is usually
made to acquire the superseding data set.
Questions regarding archival quality are best raised and discussed during the
peer review meeting.
|
