CloudSat Science and Engineering Data will be down-linked, from the CloudSat on-board data recorder, through the Air Force Satellite Communications Network (AFSCN) to the USAF RDT&E Support Center (RSC) in Albuquerque NM. There the data will be decommutated, checked for transmission errors (checksum), and stored on-line as a set of binary files. These raw data will be accessed by the DPC, via internet/ftp, for subsequent level 0 through level 2 processing.
The CloudSat System Data Flow Diagram shows the top-level flow of CloudSat data. This figure also contains information on data rates and data volume for the CloudSat Science and Engineering data and products. Engineering data (ENGR) consists of State-Of-Health (SOH), Stored State-Of-Health (SSOH). CPR is the raw CPR Instrument data. Global Positioning Satellite GPS data are included in the SSOH stream. Data transferred from the RSC to CIRA includes ENGR, CPR, Definitive Ephemeris, and Planning and Status information in the form of routine and event-driven, formatted, text messages.
CloudSat data products will be made available to the science community via a web-based data access interface during the mission and via a permanent archive at a NASA DAAC following completion of the baseline 2-year mission.