Mars Data Project

Jim Burk - MarsNews.com · 2003-01-28 20:43:35

I would like to let you know about the Mars Data Project. It's a new community effort to analyze raw data from Mars missions and advance the public's understanding of the planet Mars. To assist with this task, MarsNews.com is producing a series of low-cost CD-ROMs containing real raw data from NASA Mars missions along with software tools and "how to" articles to process the data into high-quality images.

Volume One of the Mars Data Project was released on December 20th and is now shipping. Volume Two will be ready in March. Both volumes are ISO9660 compatible and will work on Windows, Mac, and Unix computers. For more information, visit the project's website at:
http://www.marsnews.com/data

You can purchase the CD-Roms for $9.99 plus shipping. Credit card orders can be placed on the website with a Paypal account or by check/money order to: Mars Data Project, 1020 212th Ave NE, Sammamish, WA, 98074.

Bulk orders are also available -- at $6 per CD for orders of 5 or more, and $5 per CD for orders of 20 or more. Contact me for details at: jburk@marsnews.com It's an ideal way for chapters to raise funds, by selling the CDs at the retail price of $9.99.

Thanks for your support of MarsNews.com and enjoy your personal exploration of the Red Planet.

--

Jim Burk
MarsNews.com

Josh Cryer · 2003-01-28 22:50:01

Naughty naughty. Double posting isn't smart. Especially when it's an advertizment.

And doubly especially when raw data products can be obtained from the PDS for free.

Adrian · 2003-01-29 06:40:47

While I'm not happy about the duplicate posts (as usual), I don't mind the advertisement *that* much - it's obviously related to Mars and could be of interest to New Mars readers. I take it you can download all the data for free, but it's entirely possible that some people (e.g., dialup users) would rather get it on a CD.

Josh Cryer · 2003-01-29 07:13:11

Hmm, I guess in hindsight advertizment isn't so bad. But I dunno.

You can get most of the NASA PDS data online, but it's somewhere along the size of a few terabytes. I think MarsNews has done a nice job, compiling some of the data themselves, actually. Though I really wonder how much is on those CDs, given that all the datasets pertaining to Mars are easily several hundred gigabytes alone. You couldn't even fit the MOLA data on one CD.

Perhaps a file by file summary is in order? If it's a compilation of ?interesting? features, it may be well worth getting.

BTW, you can get the raw datasets on CD for the same price from the NSSDC (National Space Science Data Center) if you want, though for a complete collection it tends to be quite costly (though it's arguable that you'd wind up sepending as much downloading and burning yourself, so ymmv).

soph · 2003-01-29 09:27:03

you know, if you burned it as a dvd, you could get about 12x as much data per cd. just a thought.

Jim Burk - MarsNews.com · 2003-01-29 12:47:23

I apologize for the duplicate post, I have removed it from the other forum. Hello again to many of you (including Adrian Hon) who helped when I was volunteering my time to work on the Ares CD-Rom for the Mars Society.

One of the reasons I posted this here was to offer this special discount for bulk rate to the Mars Society. It's a big margin ($4-5 a copy) of profit for a chapter to make, and I know how hard it is to attempt chapter fundraising. At this rate, you are making more than MarsNews.com is on the CD.

I dont have a dvd burner but we may do a dvd-rom in the future.

The data on the CDs for MOC & THEMIS is raw data including a thumbnail image -- for the 1st CD we've got most of the images from MOC & THEMIS for the various regions we're focusing on - Olympus Mons, Vallis Marineris, Phobos, Cydonia, and the south-polar "Inca City" terrain. Certainly you could download this, but its going to be hundreds of megabytes. The CD is also designed to give you software tools & articles along with the data. That is the value-add over just the raw data, which is otherwise free & public domain.

Thanks,

Jim Burk
Editor, MarsNews.com
& formerly of the Puget Sound chapter

clark · 2003-01-29 13:06:34

Surprise, Surprise.

And why exactly are you focusing on those areas?

Sounds like you want help looking for aliens.

The software tools, along with the articles, will no doubt teach us all how to join in the hunt for the bugaboo's.

Josh Cryer · 2003-01-29 21:36:53

You couldn't get images of certain features from the NSSDC. You can only get data volumes which are defined by whenever the data is submitted to the PDS. Most of the data from the NSSDC is redundant, though. You have compressed images, raw processed (stripped of instrument artifacts, with calibration data), and raw unprocessed (instrument artifacts and everything).

So, it would be a lot better, if you were interested in this, to get the MarsNews CD, if only because compiling ?interesting? features would be difficult (and expensive, since each volume is $10 and there are hundreds of volumes) if going through the NSSDC.

And clark, heh. :;):

Adrian · 2003-02-01 17:51:12

Clark: Just what I thought, at first

But let's face it (no pun intended!), those areas are the most interesting to the type of people who'd want to buy such a CD. I'm a big Mars fan, and I'm just not going to buy a Mars data CD. Ever. I already have a good map on my wall, and they're usually good enough for even die-hard Mars fans.

The conspiracy theorists are the major group who'd be interested in poring over the raw NASA data, and so they'd want to see those regions. If they're going to be so annoying, why not make some money off them in the process? :;):

Josh Cryer · 2003-02-04 09:42:40

Oh c'mon, I bet you'd buy a Mars CD with rendered conceptuals (very large renders), and lots of scientific data. Sort of a rundown of all the things within The Case for Mars, and more conceptual stuff by the people on these forums.

Downloading such a compilation would be impossible (unless someone was willing to provide the bandwidth), and buying such a CD could prove profitable for the Mars Society.

Sure, I agree that to us geeks, the mystical (and mythical) things of Mars aren't appealing. We're plauged with rational science and so on. But I am confident even we have our weaknesses, and would hand out some dough for something we were really interested in.

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#1 2003-01-28 20:43:35

Re: Mars Data Project

#2 2003-01-28 22:50:01

Re: Mars Data Project

#3 2003-01-29 06:40:47

Re: Mars Data Project

#4 2003-01-29 07:13:11

Re: Mars Data Project

#5 2003-01-29 09:27:03

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#6 2003-01-29 12:47:23

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#7 2003-01-29 13:06:34

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Re: Mars Data Project

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