| Description: The type attribute classifies a target according to its size and properties so that correct nomenclature can be applied. |
| Namespace Id: pds | Steward: pds | Class Name: Target_Identification | Type: ASCII_Short_String_Collapsed |
| Minimum Value: None | Maximum Value: None | Minimum Characters: 1 | Maximum Characters: 255 |
| Unit of Measure Type: None | Default Unit Id: None | Attribute Concept: Type | Conceptual Domain: Short_String |
| Status: Active | Nillable: false | Pattern: None |
| Permissible Value(s) | Value | Value Meaning |
| | Asteroid | The target is classified as an asteroid |
| | Astrophysical | The target is classified as of interest to the astrophysics community. |
| | Calibration - *Deprecated* | The Target is classified as calibration |
| | Calibration Field | This type indicates a star field observed to be used for calibration purposes. Typically, this will correspond to a field defined in a published work like the Landolt photometric catalog. |
| | Calibrator | This type indicates a piece of equipment specifically designed to generate a signal to be used for calibration. |
| | Centaur | The target is classified as a Centaur. A Centaur is a minor planet orbiting beyond the orbit of Jupiter and interior to the orbit of Neptune. Its semimajor axis range is greater than 5.4 AU and less than 30.1 AU. |
| | Comet | The target is classified as a comet |
| | Dust | The target is classified as dust |
| | Dwarf Planet | The target is classified as a dwarf planet |
| | Equipment | Target is classified as a part of the host spacecraft or another (human) artifact |
| | Exoplanet System | This type indicates a target that is a star or stellar system (binary, trinary, etc.) with a known or suspected planetary system around it. |
| | Galaxy | The target is classified as a galaxy |
| | Globular Cluster - *Deprecated* | The target is classified as a globular cluster |
| | Laboratory Analog | The target is classified as a laboratory analog approximating a planetary environment. |
| | Lunar Sample - *Deprecated* | The target is a sample collected on the Earth's Moon |
| | Magnetic Field | The target is classified as a magnetic field. |
| | Meteorite - *Deprecated* | The target is classified as a meteorite |
| | Meteoroid | The target is classified as a meteoroid |
| | Meteoroid Stream | The target is classified as a meteoroid stream |
| | Nebula | The target is classified as a nebula |
| | Open Cluster - *Deprecated* | The target is classified as an open cluster |
| | Planet | The target is classified as a planet |
| | Planetary Nebula | The target is classified as a planetary nebula |
| | Planetary System | This type indicates a target consisting of a primary body and its satellite(s), ring(s), or similarly associated objects. For example: Saturn and its rings, Jupiter and its moons, etc. |
| | Plasma Cloud | The target is classified as a plasma cloud |
| | Plasma Stream | Target is classified as a plasma stream. |
| | Ring | The target is classified as a ring |
| | Sample | The target is classified as a physical sample representative of a larger whole. Samples may include but are not confined to rocks, minerals, fluids, or synthetic approximations of those types of materials. |
| | Satellite | The target is classified as a satellite |
| | Star | The target is classified as a star |
| | Star Cluster | The target is classified as a star cluster |
| | Synthetic Sample - *Deprecated* | The target is a sample created in a laboratory |
| | Terrestrial Sample - *Deprecated* | The target is classified as a terrestrial sample |
| | Trans-Neptunian Object | The target is classified as a trans-Neptunian object |