Developed in the OSDR Hardware AWG Data Standardization subgroup, in close collaboration with Jessica Lee (@jessica.a.lee) and Rushil Gupta (@RushiGuppy) at NASA. The goal is simple: make every SPLASH instrument record consistent, machine readable, and FAIR. The baseline below is reverse engineered from the live SPLASH submit form and public API (verified 2026-06-30, 147 records).
Fields each instrument should have
- Required now (the form enforces these six): Name, Background/Purpose, Category, Operations, Status, Date of First Launch.
- Recommended specs: Mass, Power (average), Payload Volume, Size, Operational and Sample Temperature, Pressure, Data Rate, Crew Time, Experiment Duration, Flight Heritage, plus any capability flags that apply.
- Provenance (near 0% filled today): Sources, Study Links, Schematics, Interface Definitions.
Standard units and formats
| Field | Standard unit | Format and example |
|---|---|---|
| Date of First Launch | year (ISO 8601) | 2016 (or YYYY-MM-DD) |
| Mass | kilogram (kg) | 12.5 kg; range min to max kg |
| Power (average) | watt (W) | 11.8 W (voltage and interface in notes) |
| Payload Volume | CubeSat U (1 U = 1 L) | 6 U (locker or rack in notes) |
| Size | millimeter (mm) | 300 x 140 x 140 mm (L x W x H, one unit) |
| Operational / Sample Temperature | degree Celsius (C) | 4 to 40 C (add +/- tol C if controlled) |
| Pressure | kilopascal (kPa) | Y, 101 kPa (1 atm) |
| pH Range | pH (dimensionless) | 2 to 11 |
| Relative Humidity | percent RH (%RH) | 50 to 85 %RH |
| Data Rate | bit per second (bps, kbps, Mbps) | 32 Mbps (bus type in Interface Definitions) |
| Crew Time | hour (h) | Y, 1.5 h or N |
| Experiment Duration | day (or hour) | 1 to 21 days |
| Category, Operations, Status | controlled vocabulary | exact value from the SPLASH dropdown |
| Capability flags (26) | boolean | Y or N |
| Sources, Study Links | URL or DOI | one link or DOI per entry |
Conventions
- One value and one unit per field: a space before the unit, a decimal point, and no thousands separators (
4100 kg). Ranges asmin to max unit; use~,<,>for estimates. - Use the controlled dropdowns for Category, Operations, and Status. Operations and Status each use a small fixed list (Status is Active, In Development, or Legacy). Category has grown to 45 options, many of them near-duplicates that differ only by punctuation, spacing, or singular vs plural (for example “Physical Science” vs “Physical Sciences”); these should be consolidated to one canonical label per category.
- Treat the 26 capability fields as Yes or No (a Maybe value also appears in the catalog today). Keep the flag itself clean; when a flag also implies a measurement (for example Pressure or Crew Time), put the Yes/No first and the standard value right after it, as in the table, with any extra detail in Notes.
- Keep each value in its own field, and leave unknowns blank rather than
TBDorN/Aso filters and fill metrics stay clean.
Why it matters: SI units, ISO 8601 dates, controlled vocabularies, and verifiable links are what make OSDR records FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).
Verified live 2026-06-30 against the SPLASH submit form and public API (GET /splash-api/public/instruments), 147 records. Fill gaps today: Mass 34%, Power 41%, Data Rate 20%, Sources/Study Links/Schematics 0%.
Luis E. De Pombo Puerta
Co-lead, Data Standardization subgroup (OSDR Hardware AWG)
X: @luisdepombo