Implementing an Open Source Document Preservation System at the NASA GES-DISC

We detail the implementation of a repository system at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences - Data and Information Service Center (GES-DISC) for the preservation of documents and associated data from legacy missions. Many Earth Observing System (EOS) missions have either reached the end of their active life or are nearing it. Preservation of data and artifacts from these missions is critical to long-term studies of our planet's climate and to aid future generation's ability to understand climatic changes. Data from these legacy missions provide valuable time comparisons of environmental conditions without which our climatology analysis would be incomplete. A significant hurdle in making these comparisons is the ability to understand and interpret data from the older missions when the experts familiar with them have moved on or are long gone. NASA has recognized the importance of preserving the Earth Science data with the issuance of the 'NASA Earth Science Data Preservation Content Specification' (423-SPEC-001) for the Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) supported data centers. The GES-DISC is one of the ESDIS data centers that has been actively pursuing this preservation directive over the last few years. We will present an architectural overview of the GES-DISC Repository System, which is capable of long-term archive of documentation artifacts and other associated digital content. For considerations of cost and web services flexibility, we designed this system based on Fedora Commons, an open-source repository management software. We will also present our concept of operations for user access and detail how our implementation takes into account limitations on document access, based on considerations of proprietary or sensitive information. The first mission to make use of the GES-DISC Repository System is the High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) on the Aura spacecraft. We will provide a status of this implementation with lessons learned and our plans to incorporate other legacy and ongoing missions.