LASP Public Lecture: "Science Data Centers—How We Turn Bits into Science Results"

What happens between the spacecraft and the science results? How do we take that stream of ones and zeroes that comes back from space and turn it into something that a scientist can use? What do we do when a spacecraft sends back gigabytes of data per day and we can’t possibly look at it all, or when there are glitches and gaps and our images are full of holes?

These are the questions that will be answered in our discussion of “How we turn bits into science results.” This talk will describe some of the lesser-known aspects of the “pipeline” that turns the bits from the spacecraft into products that scientists can use to make new discoveries. We’ll talk about the vast differences between all the various data sets that we handle here at LASP, the similarities between the pipelines, and the challenges that arise in processing, storing and distributing unique spacecraft datasets.

Admission and parking are free. Doors open at 7 p.m. Please see the event page for complete details.

Wednesday, Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m.
LASP Space Technology Building, room 299