History

Beginning with the Space Shuttle missions in the early 1990s, NASA established a sustained platform for long-duration microgravity research, opening new frontiers in physical science. Since 2001, the International Space Station (ISS) has expanded this legacy by enabling even longer and more sophisticated investigations in a persistent microgravity environment. These studies have revealed fundamental phenomena that are often masked by gravity on Earth, advancing scientific understanding and informing applications that benefit both space exploration and life on our planet.

To provide the global community with access to this growing collection of scientific insights, NASA launched the PSI database in 2014 with 17 datasets, as a centralized, open-access repository. PSI curates data from diverse research platforms including the ISS, Space Shuttle, parabolic flights, free-flying spacecraft, commercial cargo missions, and complementary ground-based studies, across six disciplines: Biophysics, Combustion Science, Complex Fluids and Soft Matter, Fluid Physics, Fundamental Physics, and Materials Science. By providing open access to quality experimental data, simulations, and related research output, PSI promotes collaboration, accelerates discovery, and drives innovation in the physical sciences.

Mission

Lead and maintain PSI as a trusted, open-access resource that accelerates scientific discovery by making research data easy to find, access, and use. By adhering to FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) PSI empowers researchers to build on legacy datasets, compare findings across investigations, resulting in new insights across terrestrial and space-based environments. With the goal of consistently publishing new data, PSI makes the latest research advances rapidly available to the scientific community.

Benefits

• Safeguarding Valuable Data Data is no longer confined to an individual investigator’s hard drive or at risk of being lost due to personnel changes. It is continuously ingested as it becomes available, securely archived, and reliably published.
• Expanding Public Access Comprehensive datasets—from past, present, and future physical sciences investigations—are freely available, empowering the public and scientific community to drive discovery, foster cross-disciplinary collaboration, and support educational endeavors
• Streamlined Data Ecosystem A centralized submission portal and unified repository simplify the sharing process. Integrated analysis tools and digital object identifiers (DOIs) ensure datasets are easily citable, searchable, and reusable—maximizing their long-term scientific relevance.

User & Community Forums

PSI Users Group

PSI hosts a recurring webinar that brings together researchers, open-science practitioners, and collaborators from across the physical sciences community. Designed to foster collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and data-driven discovery, each meeting provides participants with a platform to directly engage with leading researchers and PIs.

Each month, a guest speaker is invited to present. Speakers are often awarded-PIs presenting their research, highlighting experimental methods, findings, and the resulting datasets-which are accessible to users through PSI for further exploration. Through the featured presentations, the Users Group encourages interactive discussion, questions and networking, helping to build a engaged community dedicated to advancing open scientific research through use of NASA's PSI.

To be added to the Users Group mailing list, email psi-join@lists.nasa.gov.

For general inquiries, contact PSI.

Analysis Working Groups

Analysis Working Groups (AWGs) are established to support six physical sciences research areas, based on the needs and interests of the science community. A Combustion Science AWG has recently been initiated.

AWGs will operate independently from PSI, and participation is voluntary. Members collaborate on a range of activities that support specific goals and priorities of each research area.

To learn more about a specific Analysis Working Group (AWG), including how to join or become a founding member of a specific group, use the interest links below.

• Combustion Science
• Fluid Physics
• Biophysics
• Materials
• Complex Fluids/Soft Matter
• Fundamental Physics

Please note that participation in an AWG does not constitute or imply any direct affiliation with NASA.