About the Archive

Release version: 3.6.0

What is HREDA?

The Human and Robotic Exploration Data Archive (HREDA) serves as a data archive and information portal for ESA funded or co-funded investigations and experiments since 1972.

The thousands of investigations performed on space-based microgravity research platforms and in ground-based facilities have yielded an enormous amount of scientific results. HREDA supports the global scientific community and the interested general public in making themselves accustomed to general information, the results and the generated data related to these experiments and investigations.

The data archive is the depository of information on historical and on-going investigations related to ESA's human space flight and exploration programs. The Agency is committed to make these data and information publicly accessible.

While every effort has been made to compile information from six decades of European microgravity research into HREDA, some data may be incomplete or missing. Nonetheless, the available content may contribute to understanding specific scientific inquiries and guide the next generation of researchers in defining further meaningful investigations.

Established in 2020, HREDA is a collaborative endeavour between the ESA Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration, the Directorate of Science, and the Science Data Centre (SDC) Madrid. It supersedes the former Erasmus Experiment Archive (EEA) and the ESA Microgravity Database (MGDB).

Objectives of HREDA

The European Space Agency has established HREDA with the following objectives in mind:

• To provide the research data to the investigation team members and after a retention period to new users.
• To provide a user-friendly interface and mechanism for scientist and the public to access and retrieve available science data easily.
• To ensure the long-term preservation of data for the benefit of future generations, adhering to standardized and open format conventions for compatibility and interoperability.
• To maintain comprehensive documentation and metadata associated with the stored data sets, ensuring that users can understand and interpret the data effectively.
• To provide scientific results of the research.
• To provide experienced and potential European scientists with a user-friendly reference tool.
• To provide an overview of European investigation carried out on space platforms and ground-based facilities.
• To provide reference publications for further details and results.
• To provide as much multi-media material related to the investigations and experiments (i.e. images, videos, audio, graphs, tables, animations, etc.).
• Establish links with other relevant data archives and repositories of partner agencies associated with the International Space Station (ISS).

Target Audience of HREDA

HREDA is aimed at anyone seeking insight into European microgravity research. In particular, it has been designed for experienced or potential users of European microgravity research facilities. Serving as a showcase of ESA’s extensive experience in microgravity research, HREDA is also tailored for the general public and decision-makers to inform them and help them understand the achievements of the European science community. Notably, the newly introduced feature to access to the research’s scientific data confers HREDA an unprecedented significance in long-term data preservation and utilisation.

HREDA Content

HREDA contains information on European investigations conducted across different platforms, including:

• Space Stations
• Parabolic Airplanes
• Analogue Environments
• Bed Rest
• Sounding Rockets
• Drop Facilities
• Deep-Space Exploration (Moon, Mars)
• Space Shuttles
• Retrievable Capsules and Free-Flyers

For each investigation, the following information is provided:

• Research Keywords: a more precisely defined area of research.
• Mission: the name of the mission(s) during which the investigation was performed.
• Processing Facility: in many cases the experiments are not self-standing or autonomous but executed within other multi-user facilities or ad hoc designed facilities.
• Team Members: a list of the major participants involved in the scientific life cycle of the investigation.
• Affiliations: the name of the organisation to which each team member belonged.
• References: a list of references that contain further information or background on the experiment or investigation.
• Publications: papers, articles, essays, doctoral thesis, presentations, poster on the scientific results obtained from the investigation.
• Investigation Objectives: a brief outline of the main scientific objectives of the investigation.
• Investigation Procedure: a description of the sequential steps that are performed during the execution of the investigation.
• Investigation Results: an overview of the results obtained after post-flight analyses have been performed.
• Attachments: multimedia material (when available) relative to the investigation (i.e. images, videos, audio files, animations, PDF documents, etc.).
• Data: access to the data sets, generated by the respective investigation.

Submitting Information for HREDA

All users of ESA-provided microgravity facilities are encouraged to contribute to HREDA. The process is managed by the team within ESTEC’s Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration in cooperation with the Scientific Co-ordinators of the Directorate. The coordination for the ingestion and publication of data sets is handled by the Science Data Centre in Madrid.

For users interested in uploading data sets related to their investigation to HREDA, please coordinate with the with the Science Data Centre hreda.info@sdc.upm.es

Users who wish to have public content related to their investigation uploaded to HREDA, are kindly requested to submit their material via e-mail to the HREDA curator: jacqueline.myrrhe@ext.esa.int

Information Required when Submitting Information for HREDA

• Investigation Name: The full name and acronym of the investigation.
• Research Keywords: a more precisely defined area of research.
• Missions: the name of the missions or campaigns during which the investigation was performed.
• Processing Facility: in many cases the investigations are not self-standing or autonomous experiments but are executed within other multi-user facilities or ad-hoc designed facilities.
• Team Members: a full list of team member names.
• Affiliations: the name of the institution to which each team member belonged at the time of the execution of the respective investigation.
• References/Publications: a list of references containing further information on the investigation and on the published scientific results obtained.
• Investigation Summary: a brief outline of the subject of the research and its principal objectives (max. 120 characters).
• Investigation Objectives: an overview of the scientific objectives of the experiments (max. 1 page).
• Investigation Procedure: a description of the sequential steps that are performed during the execution of the experiments (max. 1 page).
• Investigation Results: an overview of the results obtained (even preliminary) after post-flight analyses have been performed, and the conclusions reached (max. 1 page).
• Attachments: multimedia material (when available) relative to the experiment (i.e. images, videos, audio files, animations, PDF documents, etc.).