James L. Green (James.Green@nasa.gov), Space Science Data Operations Office
Timothy E. Eastman (eastman@mail630.gsfc.nasa.gov), QSS Group, Inc.
Edwin J. Grayzeck (Edwin.J.Grayzeck@nasa.gov), National Space Science Data Center
Robert McGuire (Robert.E.McGuire@nasa.gov), Space Physics Data Facility
Donald M. Sawyer (Donald.M.Sawyer@nasa.gov), National Space Science Data Center
NASA/GSFC, USA

Our scientific meetings, IT publications, and even the media are awash with new terminology and possibilities about how "a new age has dawned in scientific and engineering research" made possible through cyberinfrastructure, the Grid, eScience, and Virtual Observatories.* All of these new structures and tools depend critically on a solid and standards-based data archiving foundation. NASA's permanent archive for space science, NSSDC, and NASA's many active archives constitute an archive-grounded cyberinfrastructure. The ISO-standard Open Archive Information Systems (OAIS) now guides the evolution of NSSDC. Protocols for the relationship of our permanent archive, active archives, PI sites, and scientific users are being enhanced. Working with the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS), CODATA, and other organizations, new international standards are evolving for the producer-archive relationship and other key archive system needs. Initial steps towards supporting the semantic web of the future are being taken through new metadata systems, XML technologies, and interoperability tools (e.g., see Dr. Thieman's work on SPASE in the Infoscience section of this conference). We will show how these programs tie together to illustrate the key role of data archiving in the overall data environment of this 'new age.'

_________
* Revolutionizing Science and Engineering Through Cyberinfrastructure, Report of the NSF Blue-Ribbon Advisory panel on Cyberinfrastructure, January, 2003, p. ES 1.