Planetary Data in Education: Tool Development for Access to the Planetary Data System

In keeping with NASA's emphasis on "inspiring the next generation of explorers", the Planetary Data System (PDS) has begun work on a new intuitive web interface that will provide easy access to data collected by planetary exploration spacecraft. The ultimate goal of this tool is to allow more citizens and students to become active participants in the exploration of space. The simple interface allows the user to define collections of data based on intuitive search criteria, such as geographic coordinates, feature names (Valles Marineris) and features types (craters). The interface allows the user to download files in numerous image file formats, including JPEG, TIFF, GIF, BMP, PNG and raw pixels. The user can access the collection for subsequent integration with their educational tool or curriculum. In this session we will describe and demonstrate the interface and its capabilities, walk through user scenarios, discuss the relationship of this interface to the PDS access tools and functions developed for the scientific community, and discuss the potential for its utilization in K-14 formal and informal (museums, amateur groups, etc.) settings. The tool discussed in the session is designed to provide a foundation for access to planetary data and test for the basic, broad scope needs of the formal and informal educational communities.