About The Geosciences Node

The Geosciences Node is one of several discipline-specific nodes that make up the Planetary Data System (see PDS Background). Our job is to archive and distribute data sets that are relevant to the geosciences discipline, which can be summarized as the study of the surfaces and interiors of terrestrial planetary bodies. The Geosciences Node consists of the lead node at Washington University in St. Louis and three data nodes, each responsible for a particular kind of data. They are the TES Data Node at Arizona State University, the GRS Data Node at the University of Arizona, and the LOLA Data Node at MIT.

We work with planetary missions to help ensure that their geoscience data sets are properly documented and archived. We also restore and publish data sets from past missions that are in danger of being lost. We provide information and expert assistance to researchers on the data sets that we maintain, and we are glad to answer questions from the interested non-scientist as well. For more information, see References.

Our web site contains information about all of our data holdings, all of which can be browsed online and downloaded. Data can also be distributed on other media on request, if downloading is undesirable.