The most flexible method to download files from the archives is via a traditional ftp client program. With that method it is easy to download a bunch of files, and you can also ensure that ASCII text files (i.e., ASCII data files) end up as native text files on your system by specifying an ASCII mode file transfer. That last point mainly becomes an issue if your computer is a non-Unix-like system, and if your software which processes the ASCII data files is fussy about how the lines of text are terminated. This potential problem results from different operating systems (Unix, Windows, old Macintosh) using different control characters to terminate lines in text files.
It is best to use ASCII mode ftp transfers when downloading the ASCII data files and other plain text files, and to use binary mode (sometimes called image mode) transfers when downloading GIF, JPEG, PDF and PNG image files. ASCII mode transfers will ensure that text files end up as native text files on your system, by changing the line terminators if necessary. Binary mode transfers are a bit-for-bit transfer so the file will end up on your system in the exact same form it has on the archive server.
An additional consideration is that your ftp client must operate in passive mode to get through our firewall. Since many of the newer ftp clients default to passive mode operations, this restriction will, hopefully, not cause insurmountable problems. If it does then please contact the curator of this site and we will try to correct the problem.
The following examples illustrate ftp logins with an old style command line login. The main things to note are the host name (espoarchive.nasa.gov), the use of the account name (anonymous and solve2), and the login password which you must supply.
Anonymous ftp logins can be used to access all of the public archives:
ftp espoarchive.nasa.gov
Name (...): anonymous
Password: {enter your email address}
ftp> cd archive
A few of the archives, and all of the mirrors, are password protected,
so to access those via ftp you will have to supply the correct account
name and login password. The following example is for the solve2
account:
ftp espoarchive.nasa.gov
Name (...): solve2
Password: {enter the login password}
Another method to download files is via your web browser. Each time you view a file with your browser it is automatically downloaded, so you can use your "Save As" option to save the file where you want it. Browsers tend to download files using a binary mode transfer, but if yours has an option to save files as "Text" files and actually saves them as native text files, then you can use that method to download ASCII files. That would produce the same result as an ASCII mode ftp download. If you download binary image files then save them as "Source" or "Binary" - some option which will retain their original format.
If you do not have a good ftp client, and your browser does not correctly save text files as native text files, then try the Download Native Text Files (HTTP) operation for downloading ASCII data files. That operation first converts text files to your system's native format, and then lets your browser download the files. So the files end up on your system as native text files.
Of course, if you have a program which converts Unix text files to native text files, then you can download ASCII files in binary mode and convert them to native text files after the download.
Curator: Steven Gaines - NASA Official: Mike Craig Updated: 2004-10-07