Archive responsibilities

Since the Astro-D GOF and the HEASARC come under the Office of Guest Investigator Programs at NASA/GSFC, this close association can be exploited to ensure that the Astro-D archive be structured in a way consistent with the HEASARC archive. Before they enter the public domain, Astro-D data and data products will be stored on a dedicated optical juke box separate from the HEASARC and accessible only to authorized US and Japanese Astro-D personnel.

The Astro-D GOF is responsible for creating the archive and for supporting archival research while the mission is still active. At the end of the mission, the HEASARC assumes this responsibility, and some GOF staff will transfer to the HEASARC.

The HEASARC's responsibilities are:

• FITS data structures and keyword standards compatible with other high-energy astronomy missions,
• a multi-mission user interface to the archive for browsing and extracting data,
• guidelines to ensure that Astro-D data can be integrated in the HEASARC archive,
• an ADS archival access, and
• providing a physical framework for the long-term archive--computers, mass storage, data distribution.

The Astro-D GOF is responsible for:

• archive creation, and
• initial user support.

Astro-D data will conform to the common, mission-general HEASARC database system. As well as the archiving of data and data products, catalogs derived from the data and data products will be continuously updated. Those catalogs, such as the list of proposals and the mission log, which are not derived from proprietary data will be installed in the HEASARC as they are produced. In common with all HEASARC catalogs, they will be accessible through the ADS, and have a standard FITS format.

In accord with the goal of common Astro-D software and hardware, the Japanese Astro-D archive system will be the same as the US one.