The Videocassette GOES Archive System-21 Billion Bits on a Videocassette

The use of a video recorder to record digital data certainly is not a new concept. However, the use of a consumer-oriented video recorder adapted to a particular digital data format is novel. The result is a system of digital data storage that is inexpensive by commercial standards, effective and very reliable. The widespread use of the "U-MATIC" videocassette format made it an attractive choice for the basis of an archive system. These consumer-oriented video machines show a remarkable toughness and reliability. Tailoring the recorder to match the data format ensures overall system simplicity, high data-packing densities, and in this case, increased tape media and recorder longevity due to reduced tape and tape scanner speeds. A contributing factor in the success of the Global Weather Experiment (GWE) has been the development of the videocassette-based digital archive system. The entire data set from 3 spacecraft, for the GWE one year period (representing 7.6 X 10 X 13 bits) has been successfully and economically preserved on just 4380 tapes for present analysis or future climatic analysis.