PDS_VERSION_ID = PDS3 RECORD_TYPE = STREAM OBJECT = TEXT PUBLICATION_DATE = 2005-02-28 INTERCHANGE_FORMAT = ASCII NOTE = "AAREADME.TXT for the Mars Exploration Rover Pancam Atmospheric Opacity Archive." END_OBJECT = TEXT END MARS EXPLORATION ROVER OPERATIONS PANCAM ATMOSPHERIC OPACITY ARCHIVE 1. Introduction This archive contains Mars Exploration Rover Pancam Atmospheric Opacity products and ancillary files for both the MER-1 and MER-2 rovers. Each product has a detached PDS label that describes the file structure and instrument parameters used for that image. The products archived on this volume are the original products used during mission operations by the Mars Exploration Rover project. Supporting documentation and label files conform to the Planetary Data System (PDS) Standards, Version 3.6, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) document number D-7669. 2. DVD-ROM Format This archive is designed to be accessed as an online resource as well as written to DVD-ROM or other permanent media. On DVD-ROM it is formatted so that a variety of computer systems (e.g., PC, Macintosh, and Sun) may access the data. Specifically, it is formatted according to the ISO-9660 level 2 Interchange Standard. For further information, refer to the ISO-9660 Standard Document: RF# ISO 9660-1988, April 15, 1988. 3. File Formats The Atmospheric Opacity products are ASCII tables, labeled in conformance with PDS standards. There is a detached PDS label accompanying each data file that describes the content and format of the product. A more detailed specification of the product file format is given in the Data Product SIS in the DOCUMENT directory. All detached label and document files (with the exception of PDF formatted files) are stream format files, with a carriage return (ASCII 13) and a line feed character (ASCII 10) at the end of each record. This allows the files to be read by the MacOS, DOS, Unix, and VMS operating systems. The PDF documentation files are in the binary Adobe Portable Document Format. These files can be read with the Adobe Acrobat Reader, available from "http://www.adobe.com/". (If this URL has expired, contact the PDS Operator for more information. Contact information for the PDS is shown in section 7.) All tabular files are described by detached PDS labels, which are label files having the same name as the data files they describe, with the extension .LBL. For example, the file INDEX.TAB is accompanied by the detached label file INDEX.LBL in the same directory. Tabular files are formatted so that they may be read directly into many database management systems (DBMS) or spreadsheet programs on various computers. All fields are separated by commas, and character fields are enclosed in double quotation marks ("). Character fields are left justified, and numeric fields are right justified. The "start byte" and "bytes" values listed in a PDS label do not include the commas between fields or the quotation marks surrounding character fields. The records are of fixed length, and the last two bytes of each record contain the ASCII carriage return and line feed characters. This allows a table to be treated as a fixed length record file on computers that support this file type and as a normal text file on other computers. 4. Archive Contents Files in this archive are organized into a series of subdirectories below the top-level directory. The archive organization and the contents of each directory are described below. Top-level Directory ------------------- AAREADME.TXT The file you are currently reading. VOLDESC.CAT This text file contains a description of the volume contents as a PDS catalog object. It is a required file on PDS archive volumes. CATALOG Directory ----------------- Files in the CATALOG directory are text files containing documentation formatted in PDS object description language. The files contain information about the MER mission and spacecraft, the Pancam instrument, the Atmospheric Opacity data set, personnel associated with the data and archive, and references. See the file CATINFO.TXT for details. DATA Directory -------------- The data files and their accompanying PDS labels are stored in the DATA directory. DOCUMENT Directory ------------------ The DOCUMENT directory contains archive documentation files, such as the data set and archive volume SIS's. The directory also contains a document that summarizes important times issues for the MER project. See the file DOCINFO.TXT for additional details. INDEX Directory --------------- The INDEX directory contains a PDS index file for this archive. An index file is an ASCII table with each record (or line) in the table containing information about a single data product in archive. See the file INDXINFO.TXT for additional details. 5. Whom to Contact for Information For questions concerning this volume set, contact: PDS Geosciences Node Washington University 1 Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1169 St. Louis, MO 63130 314-935-5493 Web Site: http://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/ E-mail: geosci@wunder.wustl.edu For general information related to the PDS, contact: Planetary Data System, PDS Operator M/S 202-101 Jet Propulsion Laboratory 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA 91109-8099 (818) 354-4321 WWW Site: http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/ E-mail: pds_operator@jpl.nasa.gov 6. Cognizant Persons This archive volume designed and produced at the PDS Geosciences Node, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri by Susan Slavney and Edward Guinness.