Summary
NASA Earth science data support activities by the U.S. and international organizations and governments, disaster-relief agencies worldwide, scientists from academia and the private sector, business, the military, and the general public across Earth science disciplines. Accommodating users across this broad spectrum is challenging. NASA now explicitly recommends that SMD-funded scientific data follow the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) Principles. The O’FAIR Guide offers an in-depth review of NASA policies and practices and their efficacy for realizing FAIR principles in NASA science data products. It also offers practical and actionable recommendations to Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) and Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPS) to bolster compliance of their data products with these principles.
Status
The Practical Guide for Open, Free & FAIR NASA Earth Science Data Products (O'FAIR Guide) was approved as a Technical Note in January 2026.
| Document | A Practical Guide for Open, Free & FAIR NASA Earth Science Data Products (PDF, 4.77 MB) |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5067/DOC/ESCO/ESDS-RFC-057V1 |
| Suggested Citation | Peng, Ge, Downs, Robert R., Ramapriyan, Hampapuram K., Wei, Yaxing, Ramachandran, Bhaskar, Parsons, Mark A., Liu, Zhong, & NASA ESDSWG OFAIR Working Group. (2025). A Practical Guide for Open, Free and FAIR NASA Earth Science Data Products. NASA Earth Science Data and Information System Standards Coordination Office. https://doi.org/10.5067/DOC/ESCO/ESDS-RFC-057V1 |
| Additional Resources | O'FAIR Guide Cheat Sheet (PDF, 1.5 MB) |
Recommendations for Use
Applicability
The O’FAIR Guide provides guidance on applying FAIR principles and achieving compliance with SPD-41 primarily for scientific data produced by NASA SMD-funded Earth science missions starting from the 2023 ROSES solicitations, and secondarily, for scientific data from existing missions and investigations.
Limitations
This Guide addresses FAIR principles as they relate to data products (collections). Additional effort will be needed to address FAIR principles as they relate to data files and variables.