Neutron Spectrometer (NS) Raw Data
MESSENGER Mission to Mercury

This bundle contains the following collections:

data_edr - raw data products
document - the NS EDR Software Interface Specification and other relevant documents
miscellaneous - the PDS3 index table for this archive

This PDS4 bundle has been migrated from a PDS3 data volume. For details, see the document
geo_notes_and_errata.pdf in the document collection.

Each document and data product in this bundle is described by a PDS4 label in a separate file with 
the same name but with the extension XML. PDS4 labels are XML (eXtended Markup Language) files that 
conform to the PDS4 Information Model XML schema at https://pds.nasa.gov/pds4/schema/released/. 
They are best viewed in an XML-aware text editor, and may be used by software that can manipulate 
XML documents.

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     This product type contains one set of calibration and   ASCII Table   
         Diagnostic          diagnostic data collected from the MESSENGER Neutron                  
                             Spectrometer (NS).                                                    

CMD      Command             This product type consists of time-tagged commands      ASCII Table   
                             executed by the NS instrument along with command                      
                             arguments and command success status.                                 

EVT      Event Mode          This product type contains time-tagged events           Binary Table  
                             recorded by the detectors of the NS instrument.                       

FSP      Full Spectra        The full spectra product contains five spectra from     Binary Table  
                             the three detectors of the NS instrument. These                       
                             products replaces the Spectra product type as the                     
                             result of a flight software update (2006-06-01).                      

GAB      Gamma Burst         This product type contains 'gamma burst' mode data.     Binary Table  
                             Gamma-ray bursts are detected by the borated plastic                  
                             (BP) detector as counts that exceed a settable                        
                             threshold over background.                                            

GCR      Galactic Cosmic     The NS Galactic Cosmic Ray raw products contain         Binary Table  
         Ray Spectra         galactic cosmic ray spectra measured by the lithium                   
                             glass (LiG1 and LiG2) detectors.                                      

SPE      Spectra             This product type contains one set of spectral data,    Binary Table  
                             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).                                                         

SSP      Short Science       This product type contains a subset of NS spectra       Binary Table  
         Spectra             data in the form of three of the five NS spectra.                     
                             These products are generated in telemetry constrained                 
                             situations.                                                           

STA      Telemetry Status    This table contains NS instrument status information.   ASCII Table   

TCC      Time-Correlated     This product type contains time-correlated spectra      Binary Table  
         Counts              counters collected by the NS.                                         

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”

This bundle was created and archived by the Geosciences Node of the Planetary Data System. 
Questions about this bundle may be directed to geosci@wunder.wustl.edu.