MESSENGER NS Raw Data

Neutron Spectrometer (NS) Raw product types

Instrument: MESSENGER Neutron Spectrometer

PDS4 Bundle: urn:nasa:pds:mess_ns_rawDOI: 10.17189/1518583

MESSENGER PDS3 to PDS4 Migration Status: Complete

For more information about NS Raw products, see the Product SIS.

Note: The product SIS was created for PDS3, but it is still applicable to the data after the PDS4 migration.

The MESSENGER NS raw product collection consists of uncalibrated observations from the NS instrument. There are ten standard product types associated with the NS sensor. Several raw product types contain spectra from the three neutron detectors within the instrument. Other raw product types contain events data, galactic cosmic ray spectra, gamma ray burst data, time-correlated counts, critical NS status information, and calibration and diagnostic information. A single raw product typically contains data collected over one Earth day. A description of each product type is given in the table below. Code refers to the product type abbreviation used in the file name.

Code	Product Type	Description	Storage Format
CAD	Calibration and Diagnostic	This data type contains one set of calibration and diagnostic data collected from the MESSENGER Neutron Spectrometer (NS).	ASCII Table
CMD	Command	This data type consists of time-tagged commands executed by the NS instrument along with command arguments and command success status.	ASCII Table
EVT	Event Mode	This product type contains time-tagged events recorded by the detectors of the NS instrument.	Binary Table
FSP	Full Spectra	The full spectra product contains five spectra from the three detectors of the NS instrument. These products replace the Spectra data type as the result of a flight software update (2006-06-01).	Binary Table
GAB	Gamma Burst	This product type contains 'gamma burst' mode data. Gamma-ray bursts are detected by the borated plastic (BP) detector as counts that exceed a settable threshold over background.	Binary Table
GCR	Galactic Cosmic Ray Spectra	The NS Galactic Cosmic Ray raw products contains galactic cosmic ray spectra measured by the lithium glass (LiG1 and LiG2) detectors.	Binary Table
SPE	Spectra	This product type contains one set of spectral data, status, and software event counters collected from NS. This product type was replaced by the Full Spectra product as result of a flight software update (2006-06-01).	Binary Table
SSP	Short Science Spectra	This product type contains a subset of NS spectra data in the form of three of the five NS spectra. These products are generated in telemetry constrained situations.	Binary Table
STA	Telemetry Status	This table contains NS instrument status information.	ASCII Table
TCC	Time-Correlated Counts	This product type contains time-correlated spectra counters collected by the NS.	Binary Table

NS Raw products have the following file names:

ns_zzzyyyydddwww.dat

where:

zzz = Product Type (Code)

yyyy = 4-digit year corresponding to the start time of the first record in the data table

ddd = 3-digit day of year corresponding to the start time of the first record in the data table

www = reserved 3-character string to use during the course of the mission as necessary to identify “special” data products; nominal data products will be identified with “ZZZ”