National Space Science Data Center

The National Space Science Data Center serves as the permanent archive for NASA space science mission data. "Space science" pertains to astronomy and astrophysics, solar and space plasma physics, and planetary and lunar science. As the permanent archive, NSSDC teams with NASA's discipline-specific space science "active archives" which provide access to data to researchers and, in some cases, to the general public. NSSDC also serves as NASA's permanent archive for space physics mission data. It provides access to several geophysical models and to data from some non-NASA mission data.

NSSDC supports active space physics and astrophysics researchers. Web-based servies allows the NSSDC to support the general public. This support is in the form of the photo gallery, cd-roms, photprints and through various other means. NSSDC online databases contain data about NASA, non-NASA data, spacecraft which generate space science data and experiments which generate NASA space science data. NSSDC information services are also involved in also data management standards and technologies.

NSSDC is part of the Solar System Exploration Data Services Office (SSEDSO) in the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. NSSDC is sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. NSSDC acts in concert with various NASA Discipline Data Systems in providing certain data and services.