PDS Search API: Enabling Discovery and Dissemination of PDS Data

The NASA Planetary Data System (PDS) captures, archives, and distributes data from robotic exploration of the solar system. In supporting this mission, it has developed an innovative architectural approach called PDS4 to support the highly diverse set of heterogeneous data from over 600 instruments. The PDS is implemented as a set of distributed archives with different nodes managing repositories for this federated system. This PDS4 architectural approach has evolved in the PDS Data Services Initiative with a vision to Provide an integrated world-wide data services platform that enables the efficient discovery, dissemination, use and analysis of internationally sponsored planetary science archives. One of the primary tasks needed to make that happen is providing consistent APIs for sharing archival data and services across PDS, among planetary archives, and within the planetary science community. These consistent APIs will enable a federated cross-node, cross-agency search that enables users to get as close to the archived data and services as possible. The PDS API is a capability being built by the PDS to enable users and systems to explore and use PDS data. In other words, the PDS API is the highway to drive users to the data by providing a consistent, well-documented, integrated layer on top of the archive. In response to this need, the PDS has formed a PDS API Working Group that provides technical expertise and guidance to the PDS Management Council and international community on the design, development, and implementation of the PDS API Specification. Implementation: The initial alpha version of the API has been developed and is available through an ecosystem of elementary, reusable, and evolving components, beginning with the PDS API Specification (https://github.com/NASA-PDS/pds-api/blob/master/docs/spec/pds-api-specification.md), automated documentation (https://nasa-pds.github.io/pds-api/), and demonstration notebooks (https://github.com/NASA-PDS/pds-api-notebook). This presentation will provide a brief introduction to the alpha release of the PDS API, an example use case utilizing Jupyter Notebooks to search for and access PDS metadata and data products, and future plans for tools and services.