At John Bordynuik, Inc. (JBI), we have a proven track record of providing data recovery solutions to clients with huge volumes of valuable data that was previously considered unreadable. Having benefited from such specialized data recovery expertise, NASA remains one of our most loyal clients. Our relationship with NASA began in 2007, when they asked us for a demonstration of our data recovery abilities. We used our custom hardware and software to successfully process the analog waveforms on eighteen 7-track and 9-track tape samples.
By recovering the data on these tapes, which NASA was not previously able to access, we solved a scientific data storage problem that had plagued them since the data was first gathered in 1967. NASA immediately saw the potential to address other data storage issues. In 2008, they awarded JBI sole-sourced status, which means we are the only company they retain to meet their data recovery needs.
NASA next hired JBI to complete the Nimbus II Data Recovery Project. Nimbus II was a meteorological satellite that orbited the earth between May 15 and November 15, 1966. During that time, it tested advanced meteorological sensor systems and collected meteorological data.
NASA was particularly interested in reading the data downloaded from one of the satellite’s four sensors. This sensor, a High-Resolution Infrared Radiometer (HRIR) mapped the earth’s nighttime cloud cover and measured the earth’s thermal radiation. This information was then transformed into an electrical voltage, relayed to one of NASA’s IBM 7094 computers, and written on 7-track open reel tapes.
JBI began its data recovery project in 2008, when NASA delivered 1,702 of these 7-track tapes to the JBI headquarters in Niagara Falls, Ontario. JBI was able to read and recover all of the data on the tapes over the course of two days. JBI then delivered the output data in a long-term data storage format, which can be read by modern computer software.
JBI has gone on to complete several data recovery projects for NASA and continues to help them anticipate and meet new data management needs as they arise.
The image above is an actual satellite image of Hurricane Inez taken by the Numbus II in 1966, recovered by JBI in 2008.