Date:   Fri Aug 27 1993  14:15:00
From:   Anson Kennedy
Subj:   Mars Observer PI #3   1/
SKEPTIC                        -------------------------------

This is the third and final article by Mars Observer Principle
Investigator, Mike Malin.

                                      --- Anson

Newsgroups: sci.space
Path:
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From: malin@esther.la.asu.edu (Mike Malin)
Subject: MOC PI Comments: Public Access to Images
Message-ID: <MALIN.93Aug21122249@esther.la.asu.edu>
Sender: news@ennews.eas.asu.edu (USENET News System)
Organization: Mars Observer TES Project, ASU, Tempe AZ
Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1993 19:22:49 GMT
Lines: 152

This posting is from Mike Malin, Principal Investigator of the Mars
Observer Camera, in response to the net discussions that have been
going on during the past two weeks.

Please do not respond to the e-mail address above.  My only link
to the network is through this third party and I don't want them
deluged with replies.  I do read the net occassionally and will try to
respond when time and interest permit.


Topic: Public access to Mars Observer Camera images

First and foremost, you can all help by getting the word out that
there is NOTHING DIFFERENT about the public accessibility of the MOC
data from previous missions.  If anything, access will be improved.
The "Face on Mars" crowd seems obsessed with some perceived
differences arising from the fact that the MOC is a PI instrument.  As
I hope to show below, such obsession is unfounded.

There are several levels at which the public will have access to the
MOC data.  These are 1) press releases, 2) public display, 3) NASA
Select displays, and 4) Planetary Data System (PDS) release.

Definition: "release" means material is in the public domain, and that
the MOC team has no control over its use.  "display" means the data
are shown to the public for information sake, but are not yet in the
public domain.

1)  Press releases:  The Mars Observer Project Office at JPL, the JPL
Public Information Office, and NASA Headquarters are all committed to
getting information about Mars Observer out to the public.  Because
Mars Observer operates as a distributed system (i.e., mission
operations is not centralized at JPL, but rather is distributed across
the country at the institutions of the experiment principal
investigators), this represents a formidable challenge.  Each PI is
free to release whatever he wants from his experiment, whenever he
wants, and from his home institution.  Our agreement is to inform our
colleagues across the country and at JPL of our intentions, but we are
not required to seek any authorization for such releases.  JPL will
try to coordinate a few group releases, keyed to special events in the
mission.

    From the MOC perspective, I hope to release many (dozens?) of
images over the course of the 687 day primary mission.  Limitations on
these releases include: media interest, cost of reproduction, cost of
time to prepare the releases, etc.  While most of you (by virtue of
the fact you're on the internet) have made the switch to volatile
communication, much of the world, including the media, have not.
Since we can't cater to one special interest group over another (e.g.,
computer types), we must provide our "product" in as broad a format as
possible.

    There WILL be releases of ORIGINAL DIGITAL DATA in binary form.
The MOI-28 day image was an exception, not the rule by which future
releases are planned.  My staff and I abhor rescanning, and do not
intend for our releases to be screwed up in that way.  What happened at
MOI-28 is that the release was moved forward from the date we had
agreed upon (NASA was eager to try to get into the Friday papers
rather than Saturdays) and my co-investigation team of scientists, who
are not yet in residence (since real data acquisition doesn't start
until December), hadn't even seen the image yet.  I wanted them to at
least have some view of it before the whole world had access to it
digitally, so I didn't provide JPL with a releasable digital-format
image.  JPL PIO simply scanned it in on its own volition.  In the
future, releases will be better coordinated and the digital and
hardcopy versions will be released simultaneously.

    I should note, however, that the digital version will be EXACTLY
that used to generate the hardcopy (i.e., not raw).  Raw data will be
released as part of our contractual obligation to archive and release
ALL of the data to the public domain after validation and initial
science analysis (See below, PDS release, and separate message on
proprietary rights).

    In summary, press releases will occur as often, if not more so,
than was seen during any of the previous ORBITAL missions.  Viking
released roughly 30-40 PR images per vehicle (2 orbiters, 2 landers)
over two years, and we will easily match or exceed that rate
(20/year).  Voyagers had the advantage of short encounters and
concentrated media attention--don't expect that kind of coverage to
extend over a two year mission.

2)  Public Display:  I REALLY want to get the MOC data out in front of
the public, so on my own initiative, but with the enthusiastic support
of both the NASA Science Internet and the Mars Observer Project, I
have begun negotiating to provide a "live" digital video feed from my
facility to the National Air and Space Museum, to JPL's visitor's
center, and to NASA Headquarters.  Other facilities (Kennedy Space
Center's, Johnson Space Center's, and Goddard Space Flight Center's
visitor's centers, etc.) may be included.  This will be an automatic
rescaling of our canonical 2K X 2K pixel images to 480 X 480, with
ancillary information (location, image id, etc.) displayed in NTSC
format that will occur roughly in "realtime."  NASA Select will
probably broadcast some of these displays (see below).

    Images shown via this display are still proprietary, meaning we
haven't validated them nor performed initial science analysis.  They
are not released and cannot be reproduced or recorded digitally
without our permission (basically, any reproduction would constitute
"release"). Video recording by media is allowed, as is such recording
by the public of any broadcasts.  The displays are volatile, however,
and once the image is gone, it cannot be recovered.  This is EXACTLY
like the broadcasts of Voyager data during its outer planet
encounters.  I have gone to considerable trouble to provide this
capability, since it isn't inherent in the distributed data system of
Mars Observer.

3)  NASA Select Displays:  NASA Select satellite television will carry
some amount of Mars Observer mission coverage, the exact amount and
timing is TBD.  Competition for NASA Select time is quite steep,
especially during Shuttle missions, and the amount of time Mars
Observer will get is probably pretty small.  For example, Mars
Observer begins its mapping operations around the last week in
November/first week in December.  Since the Space Telescope
refurbishment mission is scheduled in the same time period, it is
unlikely Observer will get much air time.  The commitment for now
(very preliminary) is for a 15 minute weekly summary throughout the
two year mission, with coverage of special events (like joint press
conferences which JPL will plan).  HARD CHOICE FOR YOU ALL: do you
want to see 24 hr coverage of shuttle missions or coverage of Mars
Observer?  Let NASA Headquarters know.

4)  Planetary Data System (PDS) Release:  The PDS is a distributed
data archiving system that, working in conjunction with the National
Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) at Goddard Space Flight Center,
provides public and professional access to space mission data.  NASA
has written into all Mars Observer contracts the requirement to
prepare appropriate archive data products, and to transfer these
products to the PDS after the proprietary rights period, which is
nominally six months (see separate message re: Proprietary Rights).
With recent budget cuts imposed by Administrator Goldin's demand for
lower Mission Operations and Data Analysis costs (what did he THINK
was going to be cut?), these archived products will be pretty raw, but
thanks to modern computers, also not unreasonably inaccessible to people
with a little know-how.  The MOC data are not in image format in their
raw form--we send the data down compressed.  Nor is it standard
JPEG--we developed our compression (a varient on DCT) before the
standard was settled upon, and by using a larger transform block (16 X
16) and a set of 16 requantization tables we developed empirically, we
actually get better images for a given Q factor.  The intent of the
PDS is to act as a bridge between the original investigators and other
scientists and the public in gaining access to the data.  The PDS
nodes (USGS Flagstaff and JPL for Imaging, Washington University for
other Geoscience data) are set up to provide both on-line and personal
help in finding what is needed and getting it into the format that's
desired.

Within a year of the end of the mission, all the data will be "in the
public domain."  But unlike most previous missions (Magellan being the
the first of the new breed), data will be released DURING the mission,
so you don't have to wait the entire mission to see the very first
data.

