Getting started with spacecraft instrument data: a walkthrough with Voyager 2 magnetometry

Abstract With hundreds of data sets available for public consumption, and with missions ranging from the USSR’s Sputnik satellite in 1957 [1] to NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launched in 2022 [2], it can be difficult and bewildering to know where to start when there is a need to analyze spacecraft instrument data. Many types and generations of technology have been employed in the scientific instruments carried into space since the world’s space agencies were established, and data produced by older instruments are generally less user-friendly in structure and format than data generated by more modern instruments. In this article, we present a general approach to acquiring, understanding, documenting and analyzing instrument data and apply it to a specific example. We chose to explore Voyager 2 data, and the Neptune fly-by in particular, since there is some interest of late in re-examining old data and questioning our assumptions about the ice giants [3, 4]. This walkthrough is intended to assist students and researchers in understanding issues unique to spacecraft data and to help facilitate student projects.