Voyager RSS AAREADME.TXT

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PDS_VERSION_ID                  = PDS3
RECORD_TYPE                     = STREAM

DATA_SET_ID                     = "VG1/VG2-SR/UR-RSS-4-OCC-V1.0"

OBJECT                          = TEXT
  PUBLICATION_DATE              = 2003-12-19
  NOTE                          = "General overview of the Voyager
radio science ring occultation data set."
END_OBJECT                      = TEXT
END

                VOYAGER RING OCCULTATION DATA ARCHIVE
                -------------------------------------

1. INTRODUCTION

This volume contains the data from the radio occultation experiments
at Saturn (Voyager 1) and Uranus (Voyager 2). Only highly processed
ring occultation data are provided. Also provided are ancillary files
containing geometry and calibration models, plus software tools for
manipulating the data.

This data set represents the third component of a data set collection
which also includes the Voyager Photopolarimeter (PPS) and Ultraviolet
Spectrometer (UVS) ring occultation data sets.

Supporting documentation and label files conform to the Planetary Data
System (PDS) Standards, Version 3.5, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
document JPL D-7669 (October 15, 2003).

2. VOLUME FORMAT

This disk has been formatted according to the ISO 9660 Level 1
Interchange Standard. This format is compatible with a large variety
of computer systems (e.g. Sun, HP, Macintosh, PC). For further
information, refer to the ISO 9660 Standard Document, RF# ISO
9660-1988, 15 April 1988.

3. FILE FORMATS

3.1 FILE EXTENSIONS

Files on this volume are named according to PDS standards, where the
1-3 characters after the period indicate the file type. The file types
used on this volume are:

Binary files:
    Binary data files                          *.DAT
    SPICE ephemeris files                      *.BSP
    Adobe Acrobat documentation files          *.PDF
    Postscript documentation files             *.PS

ASCII text files:
    PDS labels                                 *.LBL
    ASCII tables and indices                   *.TAB
    PDS catalog files                          *.CAT
    Text documentation files                   *.TXT
    Source code files                          *.C, *.H, *.FOR, *.INC,
                                               *.PRO, *.C1, *.H1, *.F1
    Software build scripts                     *.COM, *.MAK, *.DEF
    SPICE kernels                              *.TLS, *.TPC
    SPICE transfer ephemeris files             *.XSP
    Other files (for documentation only)       *.FIT, *.LOG, *.OUT

3.2 PDS LABELS

Every file in this data set is described by an associated PDS label.
Most files are described by a detached label, which has the same name
as the corresponding file but an extension ".LBL". Most text files
(*.TXT, *.CAT) have attached labels.

In some cases, all or most of the files in a given directory share a
single, abbreviated "combined-detached" label.  In this case, the name
of the file is the name of the enclosing directory, with extension
".LBL".

See the PDS Standards Reference (JPL D-7669) for a complete
description of the PDS label format. This document can also be found
online at
        //pds.jpl.nasa.gov/stdref/

3.3 ASCII TEXT FILES

Different popular operating systems use different standards for how
ASCII text files are formatted. On Unix systems, lines are terminated
by a >LF< (linefeed character, control-J, ASCII 10). On Macintosh
computers, lines are terminated by a >CR< (carriage return character,
control-M, ASCII 13). On PCs, lines are terminated by a >CR<>LF< pair.
PDS standards require all text files to use >CR<>LF< line termination.
If the PDS label indicates INTERCHANGE_FORMAT = ASCII or RECORD_TYPE =
STREAM, then this line termination is in use.

On occasion, users on Unix and Macintosh computers may need to change
the line termination on some text files before they can use them. This
can be handled via text editors or a variety of utilities. For
example, the Unix tr (translate) command can be used to change
carriage returns to blanks:
    tr "\015" " " >oldfile.txt <newfile.txt

Some ASCII tables indicate RECORD_TYPE = FIXED_LENGTH and include an
additional parameter RECORD_BYTES, which indicates the length in bytes
of each record in the file.  It should be noted that all ASCII files
still include the >CR<>LF< line terminators, and these two bytes are
included in the byte count.  For this reason, it is unwise to convert
the line terminator to a single character (>LF< on Unix or >CR< on
Macintosh) because this can change the number of bytes per record and
invalidate the label.  In these situations, it is recommended that the
line terminator be replaced by a space plus >LF< or a space plus >CR<
instead.

3.4 BINARY FORMATS

Binary data file formats differ among hardware platforms. Most binary
files are provided in these formats:

IEEE: For Sun, SGI and Macintosh platforms. Integers appear with most
significant byte first; floating-point numbers appear in IEEE format.

PC: For PC platforms. Integers appear with least significant byte
first; floating-point numbers appear in byte-reversed IEEE format.

Vax: For DEC (now HP) VMS platforms. Integers appear with least
significant byte first; floating-point numbers appear in Vax G format.
Although not widely used today, this is the platform on which most
Voyager data were originally used. Note that, for files containing
nothing but integers, the PC versions of files can be used.

Note that the software tools included in the SOFTWARE/PROFILE
subdirectory take care of all data conversions automatically.

The SPICE subdirectory contains ephemeris files for Voyager, planets
and satellites, plus the Sun, Earth, and Moon. These files are
provided in SPICE format for a variety of platforms. For more
information about SPICE data and toolkits, consult the PDS Navigation
and Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF) Node at
        //pds.jpl.nasa.gov/naif.html

4. VOLUME CONTENTS

4.1 FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS

ISO-9660 Level 1 standards require that file names be a maximum of
eight characters. Most of the supported data files provided on this
volume are based on the following nomenclature:

Characters 1-3: Experiment indicator
    1st character: R for RSS.
    2nd character: S for Saturn; U for Uranus.
    3rd character: 1-5, indicating a version number for the data
                   as obtained from the Stanford RSS team.

Character 4: File type
    C = calibration models.
    D = edited data containing complex transmissivities.
    G = geometry files.
    P = resampled, calibrated profiles.
    R = raw data.

Character 5: Version number
    A number indicating the version number of the given file. In
    general, the meaning of this number depends on the experiment and
    file type.

Characters 7-8: Supplemental
    These characters are only used when needed to further identify a
    file. They are used to distinguish rings, ingress vs. egress,
    coordinate frames, binary data formats, etc. These characters are
    explained in the *INFO.TXT file in each relevant subdirectory.

Non-data files do not follow these conventions.

4.2 DIRECTORY STRUCTURE

The RSS data set is organized in a directory tree as follows:

FILE                    CONTENTS

(root)                  Root directory for this PDS Volume.
|
|-AAREADME.TXT          This file.
|
|-ERRATA.TXT            A file describing any known errors or
|                       deviations from PDS standards.
|
|-VOLDESC.CAT           A PDS volume object, providing a high-level
|                       description of the volume and its contents.
|
|-S_RINGS/              A subdirectory containing Saturn ring data.
|-U_RINGS/              A subdirectory containing Uranian ring data.
| |                     Note that these two directory trees are
| |                     identical in structure.
| |
| |-CALIB/              A directory containing calibration models for
| | |                   the ring occultations.
| | |
| | |-CALINFO.TXT       Description of the files in this directory.
| | |
| | |-RxxCn*.TAB        ASCII data files that tabulate models for the
| | |                   free-space signal and noise power.
| | |-RxxCn*.LBL        Detached PDS labels for the above.
| |
| |-EASYDATA/           A directory containing calibrated, resampled
| | |                   ASCII profiles of the rings in a form
| | |                   particularly easy to use.
| | |
| | |-DATAINFO.TXT      A description of the files in the
| | |                   subdirectories of this directory.
| | |
| | |-KM00_025/         Uranus directory at 0.025 km sampling.
| | |-KM00_05/          Uranus directory at 0.05 km sampling.
| | |-KM00_1/           Uranus directory at 0.1 km sampling.
| | |-KM00_2/           Uranus directory at 0.2 km sampling.
| | |-KM00_5/           Uranus directory at 0.5 km sampling.
| | |-KM000_2/          Saturn directory at 0.2 km sampling.
| | |-KM000_5/          Saturn directory at 0.5 km sampling.
| | |-KM001/            Saturn directory at 1 km sampling.
| | |-KM002/            Saturn directory at 2 km sampling.
| | |-KM002_5/          Saturn directory at 2.5 km sampling.
| | |-KM005/            Saturn directory at 5 km sampling.
| | |-KM010/            Saturn directory at 10 km sampling.
| | |-KM020/            Saturn directory at 20 km sampling.
| | |-KM050/            Saturn directory at 50 km sampling.
| |   |
| |   |-UxxPn*.TAB      Individual ring profile.
| |   |-UxxPn*.LBL      Detached PDS labels for each of the above.
| |
| |-EDITDATA/           A directory containing edited data files
| | |                   suitable for resampling.
| | |
| | |-DATAINFO.TXT      A description of the files in this directory.
| | |
| | |-RxxDn*.DAT        Edited data files.
| | |-RxxDn*.LBL        Detached PDS labels for the above.
| |
| |-GEOMETRY/           A directory containing geometry models for the
| | |                   ring occultations.
| | |
| | |-GEOMINFO.TXT      Description of the files in this directory.
| | |
| | |-Rx0Gn*.TAB        ASCII data files that tabulate models for the
| | |                   ring intercept geometry.
| | |-Rx0Gn*.LBL        Detached PDS labels for the above.
| |
| |-RAWDATA/            A directory containing raw data files. These
| | |                   files contain the same values as found in the
| | |                   SORCDATA but formatted to PDS standards.
| | |
| | |-DATAINFO.TXT      A description of the files in this directory.
| | |
| | |-RxxRn*.DAT        Raw data files.
| | |-RxxRn*.LBL        Detached PDS labels for the above.
| |
| |-SORCDATA/           A directory containing "source" data files as
|                       originally provided to the Ring-Moon Systems Node. These
|                       files are included for documentation purposes
|                       only and are not otherwise supported. See the
|                       RAWDATA directory for supported files.
|
|-CATALOG/              A directory containing PDS catalog
| |                     information, providing high-level descriptions
| |                     of the data, instruments, etc.
| |
| |-CATINFO.TXT         Description of the files in this directory.
| |
| |-*.CAT               PDS catalog files describing this data set.
|
|-DOCUMENT/             A directory containing useful documentation
| |                     relating to the data on this volume.
| |
| |-DOCINFO.TXT         Description of the files in this directory.
| |
| |-PDSDD.TXT           Excerpts from the PDS Data Dictionary,
| |                     defining the keywords appearing in the PDS
| |                     labels of this data set.
| |
| |-POLES.TXT           A memo discussing planetary poles and
| |                     longitude origins.
| |
| |-RSnS_DOC.TXT        Documentation provided with the original
| |                     Saturn tapes from Stanford.
| |
| |-PROGRAMS            A subdirectory containing miscellaneous
| |                     programs used in the production of this data
| |                     set.
| |
| |-CALIB/              Subdirectories containing programs and
| |-GEOMETRY/           intermediate data files documenting the
|                       generation of files in the corresponding
|                       directories.
|
|-INDEX/                A directory containing indices of the files in
| |                     this data set.
| |
| |-INDXINFO.TXT        Description of the files in this directory.
| |
| |-INDEX.TAB           A table of all the data files on this volume.
| |-INDEX.LBL           A detached PDS label for the above, defining
|                       each column in the table.
|
|-SOFTWARE/             A directory containing software libraries to
| |                     support the processing and analysis of the RSS
| |                     data set. Note that unsupported software used
| |                     in the production of this data set is found in
| |                     the DOCUMENT directory tree instead.
| |
| |-SOFTINFO.TXT        Description of the files in this directory and
| |                     its subdirectories.
| |
| |-*RSSRESA.FOR        Programs to generate ring profiles resampled
| |                     onto a uniform radial grid.
| |-*RSSRESA.OUT        Sample output files from the above.
| |-SOFTWARE.LBL        A combined-detached label for all the above.
| |
| |-OAL/                A subdirectory containing the source code and
| |                     documentation for version 1.3 of the PDS
| |                     Object Access Library and version 1.2 of the
| |                     PDS Light Label Library.
| |
| |-PROFILE/            A subdirectory containing the source code and
|                       documentation for version 1.1 of the Rings
|                       Node's Profile Library.
|
|-SPICE/                A directory containing SPICE ephemeris files
  |                     for the Voyager 2 encounters with Saturn,
  |                     Uranus and Neptune.
  |
  |-DATAINFO.TXT        Description of the files in this directory
  |                     tree.
  |
  |-NAIF0007.TLS        The latest leap seconds file for the SPICE
  |                     toolkit.
  |-NAIF0007.LBL        A detached PDS label for the above.
  |
  |-PCK00006.TPC        The latest body constants file for the SPICE
  |                     toolkit.
  |-PCK00006.LBL        A detached PDS label for the above.
  |
  |-IEEE/               A subdirectory containing binary ephemeris
  | |                   files in SPICE format for machines that use
  | |                   IEEE floating-point format (e.g. Sun, Silicon
  | |                   Graphics, Macintosh).
  | |
  | |-VG2_SAT.BSP       Ephemeris for the Voyager 2 Saturn encounter.
  | |-VG2_SAT.LBL       A detached PDS label for the above.
  | |
  | |-VG2_URA.BSP       Ephemeris for the Voyager 2 Uranus encounter.
  | |-VG2_URA.LBL       A detached PDS label for the above.
  | |
  | |-VG2_NEP.BSP       Ephemeris for the Voyager 2 Neptune encounter.
  | |-VG2_NEP.LBL       A detached PDS label for the above.
  |
  |-PC/                 A subdirectory containing files identical to
  |                     those in the IEEE subdirectory, except in PC
  |                     binary (i.e. byte-swapped IEEE) format. This
  |                     workstations running Unix.
  |
  |-VAXG/               A subdirectory containing files identical to
  |                     those in the IEEE subdirectory, except in VAXG
  |                     binary format, appropriate for DEC Alpha
  |                     workstations running VMS.
  |
  |-TRANSFER/           A subdirectory containing the same ephemeris
                        files as the IEEE subdirectory, except in the
                        SPICE "transfer" (.XSP) ASCII format. These
                        can be translated to binary for any platform
                        on which the SPICE toolkit has been
                        implemented.

5. CONTACT INFORMATION

PDS Ring-Moon Systems Node personnel:

    Mark Showalter
    SETI Institute
    515 N. Whisman Road
    Mountain View, CA 94043
    650-810-0234
    mshowalter@seti.org

or

    Mitch Gordon
    SETI Institute
    515 N. Whisman Road
    Mountain View, CA 94043
    276-523-0341
    mgordon@seti.org

or

    Neil Heather
    SETI Institute
    515 N. Whisman Road
    Mountain View, CA 94043
    650-810-0243
    nheather@seti.org

    /

For software, data, and further information regarding SPICE data,
contact the PDS Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF) Node:

    Charles Acton
    Jet Propulsion Laboratory
    Mail Stop 301-125L
    4800 Oak Grove Drive
    Pasadena, CA
    818-354-3869
    charles.h.acton@jpl.nasa.gov

    //pds.jpl.nasa.gov/naif.html

The RSS team members who carried out the observations archived in this
data set are (as of 1986):

    G. Leonard Tyler
    N. Sweetnam
    John D. Anderson
    S. E. Borutzki
    J. K. Campbell
    Von R. Eshleman
    Donna L. Gresh
    Eric M. Gurrola
    David P. Hinson
    N. Kawashima
    E. R. Kursinski
    G. S. Levy
    G. F. Lindal
    J. R. Lyons
    Essam A. Marouf
    Paul A. Rosen
    Richard A. Simpson
    G. E. Wook

======================================================================
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
======================================================================

We thank Dick Simpson, Len Tyler, Essam Marouf, and Philip Nicholson
for their extensive help in locating the data files and documents
archived herein.

======================================================================
DISCLAIMER
======================================================================

Although considerable care has gone into making this volume, errors
are both possible and likely. Users of the data are advised to
exercise the same caution as they would when dealing with any other
unknown data set.

Reports of errors or difficulties would be appreciated. Please
contact Mark Showalter or Mitch Gordon at the addresses listed above.

Return to RSS data set page.