Government
NASA Launches Mars Mission Web App with Telerik
US President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958. NASA grew out of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), which had been researching flight technology for more than 40 years. NASA's vision to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so all humankind can benefit is being fulfilled every day by thousands of people working for the organization worldwide.
Full Case Study
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Challenge
The Planetary Data System (PDS) needed to update its online system to lower the cost and risks of maintaining the large archives. It also needed to meet the stringent requirements that enable future scientists to find, understand and use the data, despite being unfamiliar with the original experiments
Solution
PDS selected Telerik® UI for ASP.NET AJAX to create a robust web-based app for easier accessibility and usage.
Result
With DevCraft Ultimate, the PDS team is better equipped to deal with new obstacles as they arise, resulting in a web app that’s continuously improving.
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Story in Detail
Challenge
The Planetary Data System (PDS) is an archive of data from the U.S. National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) planetary missions, sponsored by NASA's Science Mission Directorate. All PDS products are peer-reviewed, documented and easily accessible via online catalogs organized by planetary disciplines.
People the world over access the data for use in planetary research, analysis and more. In the case of Mars rovers, data are collected by a suite of instruments such as multispectral imagers, alpha particle x-ray and thermal spectrometers and chemical analyzers. Unlike orbiters that typically map planets in a regular approach, the rover missions are non-deterministic: data are acquired based on opportunities of discovery within the framework of the overall mission science objectives. A wealth of science discovery results from this approach. But after 10 years of Mars Exploration Rover mission operations, and more than two years for Mars Science Laboratory, the team has accumulated millions of data products and thousands of documents.
Mars rover data collected daily by the mission science teams, is then released to the public quarterly. Given the sheer volume of data, the rate at which it is collected and the wide audience leveraging this information, PDS needed to update its online system to lower the cost and risks of maintaining the large archives. It also still needed to meet the stringent requirements that enable future scientists to find, understand and use the data, despite being unfamiliar with the original experiments.
“Our Analyst’s Notebook application needed to be easy enough for first time users, but also house an enormous amount of information vital to our NASA scientists,” said Tom Stein, Computer Systems Manager, NASA’s Planetary Data System Geosciences Node. “Archiving the data for the long term is straightforward bookkeeping. The real challenge is in accessing the data from a science perspective.”
People the world over access the data for use in planetary research, analysis and more. In the case of Mars rovers, data are collected by a suite of instruments such as multispectral imagers, alpha particle x-ray and thermal spectrometers and chemical analyzers. Unlike orbiters that typically map planets in a regular approach, the rover missions are non-deterministic: data are acquired based on opportunities of discovery within the framework of the overall mission science objectives. A wealth of science discovery results from this approach. But after 10 years of Mars Exploration Rover mission operations, and more than two years for Mars Science Laboratory, the team has accumulated millions of data products and thousands of documents.
Mars rover data collected daily by the mission science teams, is then released to the public quarterly. Given the sheer volume of data, the rate at which it is collected and the wide audience leveraging this information, PDS needed to update its online system to lower the cost and risks of maintaining the large archives. It also still needed to meet the stringent requirements that enable future scientists to find, understand and use the data, despite being unfamiliar with the original experiments.
“Our Analyst’s Notebook application needed to be easy enough for first time users, but also house an enormous amount of information vital to our NASA scientists,” said Tom Stein, Computer Systems Manager, NASA’s Planetary Data System Geosciences Node. “Archiving the data for the long term is straightforward bookkeeping. The real challenge is in accessing the data from a science perspective.”
Solution
The Planetary Data System (PDS) is an archive of data from the U.S. National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) planetary missions, sponsored by NASA's Science Mission Directorate. All PDS products are peer-reviewed, documented and easily accessible via online catalogs organized by planetary disciplines.
People the world over access the data for use in planetary research, analysis and more. In the case of Mars rovers, data are collected by a suite of instruments such as multispectral imagers, alpha particle x-ray and thermal spectrometers and chemical analyzers. Unlike orbiters that typically map planets in a regular approach, the rover missions are non-deterministic: data are acquired based on opportunities of discovery within the framework of the overall mission science objectives. A wealth of science discovery results from this approach. But after 10 years of Mars Exploration Rover mission operations, and more than two years for Mars Science Laboratory, the team has accumulated millions of data products and thousands of documents.
Mars rover data collected daily by the mission science teams, is then released to the public quarterly. Given the sheer volume of data, the rate at which it is collected and the wide audience leveraging this information, PDS needed to update its online system to lower the cost and risks of maintaining the large archives. It also still needed to meet the stringent requirements that enable future scientists to find, understand and use the data, despite being unfamiliar with the original experiments.
“Our Analyst’s Notebook application needed to be easy enough for first time users, but also house an enormous amount of information vital to our NASA scientists,” said Tom Stein, Computer Systems Manager, NASA’s Planetary Data System Geosciences Node. “Archiving the data for the long term is straightforward bookkeeping. The real challenge is in accessing the data from a science perspective.”
People the world over access the data for use in planetary research, analysis and more. In the case of Mars rovers, data are collected by a suite of instruments such as multispectral imagers, alpha particle x-ray and thermal spectrometers and chemical analyzers. Unlike orbiters that typically map planets in a regular approach, the rover missions are non-deterministic: data are acquired based on opportunities of discovery within the framework of the overall mission science objectives. A wealth of science discovery results from this approach. But after 10 years of Mars Exploration Rover mission operations, and more than two years for Mars Science Laboratory, the team has accumulated millions of data products and thousands of documents.
Mars rover data collected daily by the mission science teams, is then released to the public quarterly. Given the sheer volume of data, the rate at which it is collected and the wide audience leveraging this information, PDS needed to update its online system to lower the cost and risks of maintaining the large archives. It also still needed to meet the stringent requirements that enable future scientists to find, understand and use the data, despite being unfamiliar with the original experiments.
“Our Analyst’s Notebook application needed to be easy enough for first time users, but also house an enormous amount of information vital to our NASA scientists,” said Tom Stein, Computer Systems Manager, NASA’s Planetary Data System Geosciences Node. “Archiving the data for the long term is straightforward bookkeeping. The real challenge is in accessing the data from a science perspective.”
Results
“When we began, we needed to determine how to develop for first-time users versus our regular user base,” said Stein. “The look and feel that Telerik tools provide for our app is a big plus for us. With Telerik, we can focus on adding value to the content, rather than making the web work. The app offers a look and feel that users are comfortable with.” The resulting app:
• Handles user traffic: App accessed by hundreds daily
• Transmits mammoth amounts of data: Thousands of data points; millions of images
• Pushes updates: Daily updates to scientists; quarterly updates to the public
• Breeds Success: Great results with Mars rover expanded to three other Mars rovers
• Handles user traffic: App accessed by hundreds daily
• Transmits mammoth amounts of data: Thousands of data points; millions of images
• Pushes updates: Daily updates to scientists; quarterly updates to the public
• Breeds Success: Great results with Mars rover expanded to three other Mars rovers
Industry: Aeronautics, Science and Space Technology
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