The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) was founded in 1982 for governmental and quasi-governmental space agencies to discuss and develop standards for space data and information systems. Currently composed of "eleven member agencies, twenty-eight observer agencies, and over 140 industrial associates," the CCSDS works to support collaboration and interoperability between member agencies through the establishment of data and system standards.[1] According to the organisation's website, more than 1000 space missions have utilized data and systems standards created by CCSDS. The activities of the CCSDS are organized around six topic areas and composed of many working groups within the overall Collaborative Working Group Environment (CWE).[2]
The CCSDS has developed data standards and information system frameworks covering a variety of areas including data creation, transmission, management, and preservation as well as the systems supporting that data. These include protocols and network notes for communication in space including contributions to Interplanetary Internet and Space Communications Protocol Specifications. Other standards include XML Telemetric and Command Exchange and frameworks such as the Mission Operations Services Concept[4] and the Open Archival Information System,[5] the latter a model also adopted by the broader Digital preservation and Data curation community.
