ESA Planetary Data Archive

[DonPMitchell]

I chatted with Colin Wilson, one of the investigators on the Venus Express VIRTIS experiment.  He told me that the ESA has established this website to publish their data in the style of NASA's PDS system:

http://www.rssd.esa.int/index.php?project=PSA

ESA has an official six-month proprietary period before data is released.

[Ottawan]

Thanks for the link Don

Any idea on why they have such a long "proprietary" period?

[DonPMitchell]

I can only speculate that the ESA doesn't feel the pressure of constant congressional and popular review.  You know, the EU is representatives electing representives selecting burocrats...  So it is geared more to the academic's desire for exclusive access to the data for their publications.