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Ancillary Data

in the 2001 Mars Odyssey MARIE Archive

Overview

The ancillary MARIE data reside in the directory DATA/ANCIL. These data are engineering and housekeeping data pertaining to the Martian Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE) instrument aboard the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The data on this disk cover the periods 2001-04-23 to 2001-08-12 and 2002-03-13 to 2002-12-31.

There are four kinds of ancillary data on this disk: board power (PWR), board temperature (BRD), board voltage (EXT), and detector temperature (DET). The DATA/ANCIL directory has one subdirectory for each of these four types. Within each of these major subdirectories, the data files (extension .TAB) are arranged into further subdirectories, with one subdirectory for each calendar month of data.

The files contain ASCII tables of time series data. Each file has a one-line header at the top of the file; this header gives the titles of the columns. Further information on the contents of the columns can be gotten from the documentation files described below, and in the format files (described below) accompanying the data.

Technically, the ancillary data form part of the raw data set. However, the ancillary data are very different in format and use from the primary raw data. Because the primary raw data are in a binary format not usable by web browsers, these data do not have links in this interface. Those interested in the primary raw data should access the directory DATA/RAW_DATA directly.

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Documents

This disk contains documentation files which describe the datasets on the disk, the instrument from which the data came, and the Mars Odyssey spacecraft and mission. These files are found in the CATALOG and DOCUMENT directories. (Despite its name, CATALOG contains documentation files, not catalogs.)

The following files in CATALOG are of particular interest to users of calibrated data. Important note: If the links to these files don't work for you, then be sure your browser is configured to recognize files with extension .CAT as text files. If this doesn't work, then try opening the .CAT files directly, instead of accessing them with your web browser.

• The raw dataset, including the ancillary data, is described in the file RAW_DATASET.CAT.
• The calibrated dataset is described in the file CALIBRATED_DATASET.CAT.
• The MARIE instrument is described in the file INST.CAT.
• The Mars Odyssey spacecraft is described in the file INSTHOST.CAT.
• The Mars Odyssey mission is described in the file MISSION.CAT.
• A list of people associated with or relevant to the MARIE experiment is given in PERSON.CAT.
• Lists of literature references relevant to MARIE (including references cited in the other files in CATALOG) are found in REF.CAT.

The DOCUMENT directory contains documents about the dataset and the disk. Some users have found the Volume Software Interface Specification document (VOLSIS.*) to be particularly useful. This document exists on the disk in PDF and Microsoft Word document formats. (An ASCII text version is included for the sake of completeness, but is not fully formatted.)

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Links to Data Files

The links in the table below can be used to navigate the ancillary data files on this disk.

The file naming convention for these data files is illustrated by the following example.

File name BRD01174_01.TAB is interpreted as:

    BRD = file type (board temperature file; other possibilities are          
                     PWR - board power, EXT - board voltage, and 
                     DET - detector temperature)  
    01  = year 2001                                                           
    174 = day of year 174 (where Jan. 1 = day of year 001)                    
    01  = file  number 1 for the time period               
          (this information is useful in case there             
          is more than one file for a day)                                                 
    TAB = ASCII table file                                                    

Subdirectory name 01_06JUN is interpreted as:

                                
    01 = year 2001                                                            
    06JUN = sixth month, June                                                 

Note that the 'starting day' for an ancillary data file is the download day, which may be different from the first day of data in the file. (This is why there are some rows at the bottom of the table that have 'nominal dates' later than the last day of data on the disk.)

The detached PDS label file describing the file BRD01174_01.TAB is named BRD01174_01.LBL. There is a PDS format file required for full use of this label file; this format file is named BRD.FMT, and (like the label) is in the same subdirectory as the data file.