The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System or ADS is a Digital Library portal for researchers in Astronomy and Physics, operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) under a NASA grant.
It is also a fact of interest that InTech’s International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems had a special issue edited by NASA experts. It was an issue that covered NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER), an ongoing robotic space mission involving two rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, exploring the planet Mars.
The ADS maintains three bibliographic databases containing more than 8.5 million records:
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Physics
- arXiv e-prints
The main body of data in the ADS consists of bibliographic records, which are searchable through highly customizable query forms, and full-text scans of much of the astronomical literature which can be browsed or searched via our full-text search interface. Integrated in its databases, the ADS provides access and pointers to a wealth of external resources, including electronic articles, data catalogs and archives.
In addition to its databases, the ADS provides the myADS Update Service, a free custom notification service promoting current awareness of the recent technical literature in astronomy and physics based on each individual subscriber’s queries.
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