# SPLASH Data Standardization

**URL:** https://awg.osdr.space/t/splash-data-standardization/4117
**Category:** Hardware AWG Open Projects
**Tags:** splash, data-standardization
**Created:** [May 2, 2026, 5:45pm UTC](https://awg.osdr.space/t/splash-data-standardization/4117 "2026-05-02T17:45:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![luis.depombopuerta](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/awg.osdr.space/luis.depombopuerta/32/3470_2.png) [@luis.depombopuerta](https://awg.osdr.space/u/luis.depombopuerta)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2026, 5:45pm UTC](https://awg.osdr.space/t/splash-data-standardization/4117/1 "2026-05-02T17:45:33Z")

</div>

**Update (2026-06-06): the previously attached `SPLASH_Data_Dictionary_v1.0.pdf` has been removed, and an earlier version of this post has been corrected (see note at the end).**

When validated against the _live_ SPLASH database, that draft contained several inaccuracies — for example it described an ~80-field schema with `SPLASH ID` / `TRL` / `Linked OSDR Datasets` fields and a “Flown / Operational / Retired” status vocabulary, none of which match the database. To avoid propagating errors, it is replaced below with facts reverse-engineered directly from the live database and submission form.

**What the live SPLASH database actually looks like (verified 2026-06-06):**

- **147 instruments** in the public catalog, **61 fields** per record (public API: `/splash-api/public/instruments`). The submission schema itself defines **92 fields** total — including some not exposed in the public catalog (e.g. per-platform TRL fields, cost/schedule, and collaborator fields).
- **Minimum required to publish — six fields are enforced by the submission form** (empty submit blocks on all of them): **Instrument/Platform Name** , **Background/Purpose** , **OPERATIONS** , **Category** , **Status** , and **Date of First Launch**. (These are the form’s `required` set; everything else is optional.)
- Of those six, **OPERATIONS, Category, Status, and Date of First Launch** are controlled/structured (“static”) fields rather than free text.
- **Status** uses a clean controlled vocabulary already: `Active`, `Legacy`, `In Development`.
- **Category** is currently free text (~45 variants, many near-duplicates) — a candidate for a controlled, faceted vocabulary (science domain × hardware function × platform).
- The ~30 capability fields (Centrifuge, Imaging, Genomics, Cell Culture, …) follow a `Y` / `N` / `M` convention, frequently with a free-text qualifier after a comma.
- Physical specs (Mass, Power, Size, Temperature, Pressure, …) are free text with inconsistent units.
- The provenance fields ( **Sources, Study Links, Schematics** ) are **empty in all 147 records** — so no entry is currently independently verifiable. Requiring at least one source/dataset link may be a high-value standardization step.

_Correction note:_ an earlier version of this post stated that only Instrument Name and Background/Purpose were enforced. That was wrong — the form enforces all six fields listed above. Thanks to manual testing that caught the error; corrected here for the record.

Shared as a data-grounded starting point for the Data Standardization Subgroup’s discussion. Feedback very welcome — OSDR is Open and we’re building in public. [@HardwareAWG](https://awg.osdr.space/groups/hardwareawg)