Community Data System Programs

NASA views its data systems in terms of “Core” and “Community” capabilities. The core capabilities provide the basic infrastructure for robust and reliable data capture, processing, archiving, and distributing a set of data products to a large and diverse user community. Examples of core capabilities are:

• The Earth Observing Data and Information System (EOSDIS)
• Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) Interactive Solar Irradiance Data Center (LISIRD)
• The CloudSat Data Processing Center
• The Precipitation Processing System (PPS)

Community capabilities provide specialized and innovative services to data users and/or research products offering new scientific insight. Such systems are generally supported by NASA through peer-reviewed competition. Examples of community capabilities are projects under the Research, Education and Applications Solutions Network (REASoN), Advancing Collaborative Connections for Earth System Science (ACCESS), and Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Programs.

Both core and community capabilities are required for NASA to meet its overall mission objectives. While both types of capabilities are innovative and strive towards state-of-the-art in technology, there is difference in relative emphases. Core capabilities use proven technologies and emphasize reliability and robustness, while community capabilities allow for more experimental technologies that may eventually be infused into the core capabilities and research data products that may be archived in EOSDIS Data Centers for public distribution.