I found these image files here: (https://planetarydata.jpl.nasa.gov/img/data/m3/CH1M3_0001/DATA/20081118_20090214/200811/L0/)
These files are LBL, HDR and IMG files. How does one view and work with these files? I tried loading them in QGIS, but it gives an error saying Invalid data source.
Is there any software that can help you view these files? Or is there any standard way to work with these files using python or other languages?
The readme file in the (distant) parent folder says:
2.2.5 Science Data File Formats
For more information about the format and content of the data products, see the discussions in the M3 Data Product and Archive Volume SISs located in the DOCUMENT directory.
Please note that unlike the M3 Level 1B data products, which are viewable with NASAView, the M3 Level 0 data products are not compatible with NASAView. However, ENVI software can view both Level 0 and Level 1B data products.
Reading M3 Level 0 Data Products with other standard viewing tools may not be possible due to the non-standard float format of the 1280-byte line prefix header, included in all M3 Level 0 Data Products.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), creator of the data, uses a non-PDS standard for capturing and organizing these values within the header. This format is not describable using existing PDS3 data types.
Given that the M3 mission was of an international nature, the M3 team along with the PDS, had no authority to obligate ISRO to conform to the American PDS standards.
Therefore, for the sake of our current PDS data users and those in the future, we have documented a description of the L0 data prefix header structure in various places within this archive. This includes the M3_L0_TIME_DECODING.TXT file within the DOCUMENT sub-directory, the LN_PRFX_HDR.FMT file within the LABEL sub-directory and the ERRATA.TXT file within the top level volume directory.
Download for example these files
https://planetarydata.jpl.nasa.gov/img/data/m3/CH1M3_0001/DATA/20081118_20090214/200811/L0/M3G20081118T222604_V01_L0.HDR https://planetarydata.jpl.nasa.gov/img/data/m3/CH1M3_0001/DATA/20081118_20090214/200811/L0/M3G20081118T222604_V01_L0.IMG https://planetarydata.jpl.nasa.gov/img/data/m3/CH1M3_0001/DATA/20081118_20090214/200811/L0/M3G20081118T222604_V01_L0.LBL
Save them on disk. If .HDR gets named as .HDR.txt and .LBL as .LBL.txt, remove the .txt part. The file to open is .IMG but the sidecar files must exist in the same directory.
Test with gdalinfo
gdalinfo M3G20081118T222604_V01_L0.IMG
Driver: ENVI/ENVI .hdr Labelled
Files: M3G20081118T222604_V01_L0.IMG
M3G20081118T222604_V01_L0.HDR
Size is 320, 1182
Image Structure Metadata:
INTERLEAVE=LINE
Corner Coordinates:
Upper Left ( 0.0, 0.0)
Lower Left ( 0.0, 1182.0)
Upper Right ( 320.0, 0.0)
Lower Right ( 320.0, 1182.0)
Center ( 160.0, 591.0)
Band 1 Block=320x1 Type=Int16, ColorInterp=Undefined
Band 2 Block=320x1 Type=Int16, ColorInterp=Undefined
Band 3 Block=320x1 Type=Int16, ColorInterp=Undefined
Band 4 Block=320x1 Type=Int16, ColorInterp=Undefined
Band 5 Block=320x1 Type=Int16, ColorInterp=Undefined
Band 6 Block=320x1 Type=Int16, ColorInterp=Undefined
...
This image has 86 bands, each with 320 by 1182 pixels. QGIS shows by default bands 01, 02, and 03 as coloured stripes but mayby the 86 band dataset is for analysis, not for visual browsing. I do not know what kind of data that instrument records, but at least GDAL and QGIS can open the files.
