The Beginnings of a Space Physics Virtual Observatory

We present a Visual System for Browsing, Analysis, and Retrieval of Data (ViSBARD) that provides the core for what we will extend to a Space Physics Virtual Observatory (SPVO). This presentation is largely intended to obtain feedback from the community on what features are most important. The project will provide open-source software to encourage contributions from everyone. As currently configured (this should be much further advanced by the time of the meeting) the software is capable of reading data (ASCII/CDF) for many existing missions. ViSBARD can be extended to interpret any number of ASCII and CDF formats through XML definitions, and we intend to add other formats. The program features extensive 3-D viewing capabilities coupled with 2-D displays for browsing and/or analyzing the data as viewed on the orbits of the spacecraft. ViSBARD can display the "SSC" database that gives orbits of most currently operating SEC-related satellites as well as the COHOWeb database that contains most of the hourly averages of interplanetary spacecraft. A "combine" tool allows the user to assemble, e.g., plasma, magnetic field, and orbit data from separate files for a single satellite into a one data set at any desired resolution. ASCII output makes it possible to save subsets or combined datasets for later or other use. Currently, data files must be downloaded separately, so building a true virtual observatory will require linking this system to databases at many locations on the Web. We will start with the NSSDC and add others when this is working well. Future plans include linking to solar images (ultimately via the Virtual Solar Observatory) and magnetospheric and ionospheric images, as well as including model output in the visualization.