Lost Science: Protecting Data Through Improved Archiving

Abstract

Mike Carr wrote recently Of the wOnderful planetary geOlOgy accOmplished by NASA Over the past 50 years Of space explOration, with images and descriptions from the early Venus, Mars, and lunar missions as well as mOre recent missions, which evOked gOOd memOries (M. H. Carr, GeOlOgic explOration Of the planets: The first 50 years, Eos, 94(3), 29–30, 
doi:10.1029/2013EO030001, 2013).
UnfOrtunately, memOries are not science data, and thOse 50 years have not been as kind tO the scientific infOrmation cOllected by 
these pioneering missions.In 1970, the ultraviolet spectrometer data cOllected around Mars by 
the Mariner 6 and 7 spacecraft were delivered tO the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) On a COntrol Data 6400 7-track tape, and the punch card cOpy Of that data was put intO stOrage.