Protecting Mission Data Against Loss

Kurzfassung

At the end of a mission the final result left will be the data. The spacecraft will be deorbited. The ground segment will be deployed or used for other missions, but the mission data remains, being the most important asset of the whole mission. This data can be knowledge, pictures, measurement results or whatever … but at the end - this is (just) computerized data. For most of the space missions the data acquired will be stored and used for many, many years. At the end of a mission, the data is all that remains usable. It is valuable and needs to be handled carefully. This data can also be important for follow-on missions and compared as “historical data” in order to evaluate differences or evolutionary changes of the missions. For these reasons keeping the data safe is a real important part of the whole mission. Acquisition of the valuable data normally is very expensive, but many times project planning underestimates both the value of the data and the cost to keep the data usable for a long time. Nevertheless electronically stored data is volatile. So the question is not “IF”, the matter is “WHEN” the data will be lost.