NASA’s Astromaterials Data System Town Hall

Monday, March 16th, 12:00 to 1:15 PM
Indian Springs, The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center, Houston, TX, USA

This town hall invites researchers studying Astromaterials specimens to learn about NASA-JSC’s Astromaterials Data System (AstroMat), to get an update on available services and the status of ongoing developments, and to engage in its design and development. Learn how AstroMat can help you comply with new journal policies for data access and with funders’ requirements for Data Management Plans. Lunch will be provided on a first come, first served basis.

AstroMat Town Hall at LPSC 2020

In July 2019, several members of the AstroMat team visited NASA’s Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office (AACO) at Johnson Space Center for an up close look at their lunar sample collection. The AACO is part of the Astromaterials Research & Exploration Science division that handles samples from lunar material, meteorites, cosmic dust, and more. Read more about their visit here.

AstroMat Team Members Visit Johnson Space Center

Please join us Thursday March 21 at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference for our poster presentations on the Astromaterials Data System (Poster #684) and MoonDB(Poster #700). See below for more information.

March 21, 6:00 – 9:00 pm, Town Center Exhibit Area, The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel

The Astromaterials Data System: Transforming Access to Planetary Sample Data: The Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) curates the world’s most extensive and precious collections of extraterrestrial materials – meteorites, cosmic and interplanetary dust, solar wind, and lunar rocks – and makes them available to the global research community for scientific research. Thousands of geochemical, petrological, and geochronological studies have been conducted over time, producing a treasure trove of data that hold a huge potential for future discoveries. JSC and the EarthChem group at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have embarked on a major effort to build a comprehensive data system for all analytical data generated from JSC’s astromaterials collections, the Astromaterials Data System (AstroMat, www.astromat.org). AstroMat will not only ensure long-term preservation and access of analytical data for specimens curated at JSC, but provide a context-rich searchable database of the data offering for the first time the ability to easily compare analytical data across diverse extraterrestrial collections, thus facilitating the study of comparative planetology.

MoonDB: 50 Years of Lunar Sample Data Ready for the Data Revolution: MoonDB (http://www.moondb.org) is a data system designed to restore and synthesize geochemical and petrological measurements from the study of lunar samples. Since 2015, major, trace, and isotope data for nearly 2,600 samples from approximately 650 references were compiled into the database. MoonDB’s web application allows users to browse, search, and retrieve data, and currently allows for queries by mission, landmark, specimen type, sampling technique, analysis method, and analyte. Users can download the data in multiple forms, see data holdings, and access MoonDB APIs. MoonDB also offers repository services for legacy and new datasets submitted by users to share their data and comply with funders’ and publishers’ policies for FAIR data (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). Additionally, MoonDB has created a comprehensive reference library of over 5,000 papers and abstracts related to lunar samples and meteorites that will become accessible and searchable in late 2019.

AstroMat and MoonDB posters at LPSC

Introducing New Synthesis Search

If you’re heading to LPSC25, make sure to join us on Monday at 12:00PM CST for the Astromat Workshop. The two main topics will be 1) data submission to Astromat in compliance with SPD-41A, and 2) introduction to AstroSearch v4, our newly upgraded synthesis search app! Using AstroSearch v4 will make your search of the Astromat Synthesis database faster, simpler, and more transparent—helping you get to the data you need with fewer steps and greater control.

We will have snacks and drinks to keep you going (not quite lunch, but enough to keep you fueled!).

Location: Panther Creek Conference Room, Woodlands Marriott

Can’t make it to LPSC? We’ll be hosting a series of Astromat webinars in the coming months to guide you through data submission and to introduce and demo Search v4 for those who can’t attend in person. Stay tuned for details!

Astromat Workshop at LPSC

Are you interested to learn more about the Astromaterials Data System? We invite you to meet members of the Astromat Team at the AGU 24 Fall Meeting in Washington, DC, next week. Come see us at the Data Help Desk in the Open Science Pavilion of the Exhibit Hall or at one of our two Astromat posters:

Astromat Demo and Q&A
Monday, December 9, 3:00 - 5:00 PM
ESIP & AGU Open Science and Data Help Desk, Open Science Pavilion, Exhibit Hall

Poster Presentation:Advancing the Alignment of the Astromaterials Data System to FAIR and Open Data Principles based on 2023-2025 CoreTrustSeal Certification Requirements
Tuesday, Dec. 10,  8:30 AM - 12:20 PM
IN21C-2159, Board 2159‚ Poster Hall

Poster Presentation:Astromaterials Data System: Providing Analysis-Ready Data and Data Archiving Services for Returned Samples and Meteorites
Friday, Dec. 13, 8:30 AM - 12:20 PM
U51C-2524, Board 2524‚ Poster Hall

If you aren't attending AGU this year, we invite you to attend Astromat events planned for 2025. We will host community workshops at LPSC25 and MetSoc25 next year that will focus on training for data management and data archiving, and on guidance for the use of the Astromat synthesis. We also plan to offer repository help desk services both in conjunction with relevant in-person conferences and through a series of webinars next year. Stay tuned for the date announcements - coming soon next year.

Effective January 1, 2025, Astromat will no longer offer the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA) data licensing option, in accordance with NASA SMD policy and our mission to support open data practices. To learn more about our data licensing options, please visit the ADA Submission Guidelines page. If you have questions about this change or about a previously submitted dataset with the CC BY-SA licensing option, please contact Astromat.

Astromaterials Data System December 2024 Update

Dear Astromaterials Data System mailing list subscribers,

Thanks to all who joined us at the Astromat Workshop at MetSoc24! We had a great discussion about data archiving needs in the astromaterials community and standards for astromaterials sample data.

We recently updated the Astromat website with an improved site layout, live system statistics, and quicker ways to get to the information and data you need. Take a look and let us know if you have any feedback or suggestions.

Members of the Astromat Team will be at Goldschmidt 2024 in Chicago next week. Come find us at the Exhibit Hall or one of the following sessions!

Exhibit Hall: EarthChem & the Astromaterials Data System Booth #2

Maximizing the Return on Investment in Astromaterials Samples Collection and Analysis with FAIR & Analysis-Ready Data at the Astromaterials Data System in Session: 6hP1 - Meeting Technical Challenges of Current and Future Planetary Science and Cosmochemistry

Astromat: Future-proofing astromaterials research in Session: 14dP1 - 25 years of GEOROC and PetDB: the past, present and future of research with global geochemical databases

Wednesday, 21 August, 8:30 - 11:30am; 2:30 - 4:00pm

Session: 25 years of GEOROC and PetDB: the past, present and future of research with global geochemical databases. The oral sessions are on Wednesday followed by an optional event afterwards.

Select OSIRIS-REx Sample Data Now Available in Astromaterials Data Archive

Data from the initial analyses of asteroid Bennu by the OSIRIS-REx Sample Analysis Team are now available in the Astromaterials Data Archive (ADA). Approximately 100 datasets are now accessible to download out of the ~500 datasets received to date. As future OREx publications are released, the associated datasets in ADA will be made publicly accessible.

Our team is planning a series of webinars starting Fall 2024 on archiving your data and accessing data through Astromat. Stay tuned here for the dates and registration information. If you have suggestions or would more information on using Astromat services, please feel free to reach out to our team!

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AstroMat Team Members Visit Johnson Space Center

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