Solar System Generic Planets DSK Files
=============================================================================

   This "aareadme.txt" file describes the contents of the
   kernels/dsk/planets directory of the Solar System Generic SPICE Kernel
   Dataset. It also provides the file naming conventions used for the
   Solar System Generic Planets DSK kernels.

   It was last modified on August 23rd, 2022 by Alfredo Escalante Lopez, ESAC/ESA.


Brief Summary
--------------------------------------------------------

   This directory contains the global SPICE Digital Shape-Kernel
   files for Solar System Generic Planets.


File naming conventions
--------------------------------------------------------

   The naming scheme for the Natural Bodies DSKs is:

      BODY_RRRR_PRO[_ID][_DESC]_vNN.bds

   where

        BODY            body:

                           mars for Mars
                           mercury for Mercury

        RRRR            number of plates:

                           Knnn for nnn thousand plates
                           Mnnn for nnn million plates

        PRO             producer:

                           mol for Mars Global Surveyor MOLA data.
                           mes for MESSENGER data.

        NN              version number (required; e.g. 01)


Current DSK Kernels Set
--------------------------------------------------------

   mars_k129_mol_v01.bds

      Contains Mars shape data based on Mars Global Surveyor MOLA downsized
      to 1 pixel per degree data processed and generated by Nat Bachman.


   mars_m005_mol_v01.bds

      Contains Mars shape data based on Mars Global Surveyor MOLA downsized
      to 7 pixels per degree data processed and generated by ESA SPICE
      Service (ESS).


   mercury_m005_mes_v01.bds

      Contains Mercury shape data based on MESSENGER downsized
      to 7 pixels per degree data processed and generated by ESA SPICE
      Service (ESS).


   earth_m004_cop_v01.bds

      Contains Earth shape data based on Copernicus downsized
      to 7 pixels per degree data processed and generated by ESA SPICE
      Service (ESS).


Kernel File Details
--------------------------------------------------------

   The contents of any DSK file may be easily determined using the
   'dskbrief' utility program, Example:

      % dskbrief <dsk_file_name>

   Descriptive information about how/why/when an DSK file was created
   is usually available in the 'comment area' of the file. This may be
   viewed using the 'commnt' utility program available in all copies of
   the SPICE Toolkit. Use the '-r' option to read the comments. Example:

      % commnt -r <dsk_file_name>

   All binary DSK files (*.bds) contained in this directory are
   little-endian (LTL-IEEE) binary files.

   These DSK files have been produced by Nat Bachman NAIF/JPL
   (nathaniel.bachman@jpl.nasa.gov) and/or by
   Marc Costa (mcosta@sciops.esa.int).


Other directory contents
--------------------------------------------------------

     aareadme.txt                         This file.

     BODY_RRRR_PRO[_ID][_DESC]_vNN.obj    Each DSK has an ASCII vertex-facet
                                          format output file for visualization
                                          purposes (these files can be
                                          previewed natively in modern
                                          Operating Systems).

     BODY_RRRR_PRO[_ID][_DESC]_vNN.png    Each DSK has an image example in png
                                          format for convenience.


Particulars
--------------------------------------------------------

    Please note that in order to use DSK data you need to use
    N0066 or later Toolkits.


Contact Information
--------------------------------------------------------

   If you have any questions regarding this file contact the
   ESA SPICE Service (ESS) at ESAC:

           Alfredo Escalante Lopez
           (+34) 91-8131-429
           spice@sciops.esa.int


References and required readings
--------------------------------------------------------

   1. ``DSK Required Reading'', NAIF Document


End of aareadme file.