Missions

The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (Space Act) established NASA as an aerospace research and development agency that sponsors and conducts flight missions to obtain data in furtherance of its objectives. In NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD), flight missions range from suborbital projects—including balloons, sounding rockets, and airplanes—to interplanetary probes and flagship observatories. All investigations and missions selected and flown must respond to Agency goals and strategic objectives.

Mission opportunities are open to all proposers, within fixed rules, via public announcement, and selections are based primarily on scientific and technical merit as evaluated by independent peer review. Foreign partners are frequent and valued participants in joint missions. The partnerships are generally conducted on a cooperative, no-exchange-of-funds basis. NASA also works closely with a number of other Federal agencies to implement and support our flight missions. To learn more about mission planning and development, see section 3.3 of the Science Plan for NASA's Science Mission Directorate 2007 - 2016 (PDF 5.1 MB).

This page provides access to all SMD missions, with several options for viewing. Click on the column headers below to change your view. The "All" tab will provide you with a complete listing that can be sorted to suit your interests.

ALL A-C D-I J-R S-Z

*Sort missions by clicking Launch Date, A-Z, or PHASE column headers.

A-Z	Launch Date	Phase
Jason-1 Jason is an oceanography mission to monitor global ocean circulation, improve global climate predictions, and monitor events such as El Nino conditions and ocean eddies. The...	20011208 December 07, 2001	Operating
JDEM NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy will support a probe to investigate dark energy, the Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM). The Joint Dark Energy Mission will be an...		Under Study
Juno The Juno mission is the next scientific investigation in the NASA New Frontiers Program. The mission's primary science goal is to significantly improve our understanding of...	20110805 20:00:00 USEastern August 05, 2011	Development
JWST James Webb Space Telescope (formerly the Next Generation Space Telescope) is designed for observations in the far visible to the mid infrared part of the spectrum. JWST will...	20140601 20:00:00 USEastern June 01, 2014	Development
KAO The Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO) is a national facility operated by NASA to support research in infrared astronomy. The observation platform is a highly modified C-141A...	19750521 May 21, 1975	Past
Keck Interferometer The Keck Interferometer is part of NASA's overall effort to find planets and ultimately life beyond our solar system. It combines the light from the twin Keck telescopes to ...		Operating
Kepler The Kepler Mission is a space mission specifically designed to detect Earth-size planets around stars in the solar neighborhood of the Galaxy. This mission is part of the...	20090306 22:45:00 USEastern March 06, 2009	Operating
LADEE Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is a NASA mission that will orbit the Moon and its main objective is to characterize the atmosphere and lunar dust...	20120501 May 01, 2012	Development
LAGEOS 1&2 LAGEOS, or Laser Geodynamics Satellites, are a series of satellites designed to provide an orbiting benchmark for geodynamical studies of the Earth. LAGEOS 1 & 2 provide...	19760504 May 04, 1976	Operating
Landsat 7 Landsat 7 systematically provides well-calibrated, multispectral, moderate resolution, substantially cloud-free, Sun-lit digital images of the Earth's continental and coastal...	19990415 April 15, 1999	Operating
LBTI The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) is part of NASA's overall effort to find planets and ultimately life beyond our solar system. It will combine the light...		Development
LDCM LDCM is a joint NASA-United States Geological Survey (USGS) mission to extend the Landsat record of multispectral, 30-meter resolution, seasonal, global coverage of the...	20121201 20:00:00 USEastern December 01, 2012	Under Study
Leonid MAC Leonid MAC used two aircraft carrying a variety of instruments to examine the particles from the comet Tempel -Tuttle as well as the impact of these on the upper...	19981117 November 17, 1998	Past
LISA The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a space-based observatory that will allow us to view the Universe in a new spectrum, that of gravitational radiation. This...		Under Study
Lunar Prospector Lunar Prospector was the third of NASA's Discovery missions. The project mapped the chemical composition of the lunar surface and the Moon's global magnetic and gravity...	19980107 January 07, 1998	Past
Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is the first mission in NASA's plan to return to the moon and then to travel to Mars and beyond. This mission is part of SMD's Robotic...	20090617 15:50:00 USEastern June 17, 2009	Operating
Magellan The Magellan mission scientific objectives were to study land forms and tectonics, impact processes, erosion, deposition, chemical processes, and model the interior of...	19890504 May 04, 1989	Past
Mariner Missions Between 1962 and 1973, NASA designed and built 10 spacecraft named Mariner to explore the inner solar system – visiting the planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars for the first...	19620722 July 21, 1962	Past
Mars Climate Orbiter Mars Climate Orbiter was designed to function as an interplanetary weather satellite and a communications relay for Mars Polar Lander. This mission is part of the Mars...	19981211 December 11, 1998	Past
Mars Exploration Rover - Opportunity The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity landed at on a flat plain known as Meridiani Planum on Mars in January 2004. It carries a sophisticated set of instruments that allow...	20030707 20:00:00 USEastern July 07, 2003	Operating
Mars Exploration Rover - Spirit Mars Exploration Rover Spirit landed in Gusev crater on Mars in January 2004. The rover carries a sophisticated set of instruments that allow it to search for evidence of...	20030610 June 10, 2003	Operating
Mars Express (ASPERA-3) Mars Express is exploring the atmosphere and surface of Mars from polar orbit. The mission's main objective is to search for sub-surface water from orbit and deploy a lander...	20030603 June 02, 2003	Operating
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Global Surveyor is returning an unprecedented amount of data regarding Mars' surface features, atmosphere, and magnetic properties. Scientists are using the data...	19961107 19:00:00 USEastern November 07, 1996	Past
Mars Observer Mars Observer was designed to study the geoscience and climate of Mars. This mission is part of SMD's Mars Exploration...	19920925 September 25, 1992	Past
Mars Odyssey The 2001 Mars Odyssey is an orbiter carrying science experiments designed to make global observations of Mars to improve our understanding of the planet's climate and...	20010408 April 07, 2001	Operating
Mars Pathfinder Mars Pathfinder launched December 2, 1996 and arrived on the surface of Mars on July 4, 1997. The mission was an engineering demonstration of key technologies and concepts...	19961204 December 04, 1996	Past
Mars Polar Lander The Mars Polar Lander was to touch down on the southern polar layered terrain and record local meteorological conditions near the martian south pole. This mission is part of...	19990103 January 03, 1999	Past
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will seek to find out about the history of water on Mars with its science instruments. They will zoom in for extreme close-up...	20050813 August 12, 2005	Operating
Mars Science Laboratory NASA proposes to develop and to launch a roving long-range, long-duration science laboratory that will be a major leap in surface measurements and pave the way for a future...	20111022 October 22, 2011	Development
MESSENGER MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) is a scientific investigation of the planet Mercury, the least explored terrestrial planet. This...	20040804 August 03, 2004	Operating
MMS The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission will determine the small-scale basic plasma processes which transport, accelerate and energize plasmas in thin boundary and current...	20140814 19:00:00 USEastern August 14, 2014	Development
MOMS The Modular Optoelectronic Multispectral Scanner (MOMS) is a scanning system (based on CCD technique) for airborne and predominantly spaceborne geoscientific remote sensing...	19830618 June 18, 1983	Past
MOS Marine Observation Satellite (MOS-1), Japan's first marine observation satellite, was launched in 1987 as a link in a global satellite observation system for more effective...	19870219 February 19, 1987	Past
NEAR-Shoemaker As the first spacecraft to orbit and land on an asteroid, the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Shoemaker mission continues to answer fundamental questions about the nature and...	19960217 February 17, 1996	Past
New Horizons The New Horizons Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission will help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system, by making the first reconnaissance of Pluto and Charon. The mission...	20060120 January 19, 2006	Operating
Nimbus The Nimbus series of missions was the United States’ primary research and development platform for satellite remote-sensing of the Earth. The satellites increased the...	19640828 August 27, 1964	Past
NOAA-N NOAA-N broadcasts data directly to thousands of users around the world and continues to provide a polar-orbiting platform to support the environmental monitoring instruments...	20050520 May 20, 2005	Operating
NOAA/POES Since the 1960s, NASA has developed polar-orbiting environmental observation satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA satellites...	19930328 March 28, 1993	Past
NPOESS The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) is a satellite system used to monitor global environmental conditions, and collect and...	20140331 March 31, 2014	Development
NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) NPP is a joint mission to extend key measurements in support of long term monitoring of climate trends and of global biological productivity. This mission is part of SMD's...	20110115 January 15, 2011	Development
NuSTAR The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array is a pathfinder mission that will open the high energy X-ray sky for sensitive study for the first time. This mission is part of...	20110815 August 15, 2011	Development
OAO The Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO) was a series of four satellites launched by NASA between 1966 and 1972....		Past
OCO OCO provides space-based observations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal human-initiated driver of climate change. This mission uses mature technologies to...	20090224 19:00:00 USEastern February 24, 2009	Past
Operation Ice Bridge Operation Ice Bridge is a six-year airborne campaign designed to capture measurements of changes in polar ice sheets and sea ice during a gap in the space-based observations...	20091015 October 15, 2009	Operating
ORFEUS-SPAS II ORFEUS-SPAS II mission conducted investigations of celestial sources in the far and extreme ultraviolet spectral range, and to increase understanding of the evolution of...	19961120 November 20, 1996	Past
OSTM OSTM measures sea surface height to an accuracy of < 3.3 cm every ten days. Sea surface topography measured by satellite altimeters has numerous applications important to...	20080620 20:00:00 USEastern June 20, 2008	Operating
Phoenix Phoenix seeks to verify the presence of the Martian Holy Grail: water and habitable conditions....	20070805 August 04, 2007	Past
Pioneer 10 & 11 These Pioneer missions traveled through the asteroid belt to observe Jupiter, Saturn and continue on to the outer solar...	19720303 March 03, 1972	Past
Pioneer Venus Missions Pioneer Venus consisted of two spacecraft to study Venus: the Orbiter and the...	19780520 May 20, 1978	Past
Planck Planck is designed to image minor variations in the Cosmic Background Radiation over the whole sky, with unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution. Planck will provide...	20090514 19:00:00 USEastern May 14, 2009	Operating
Polar Polar is the second of two NASA spacecraft in the Global Geospace Science (GGS) initiative and part of the ISTP Project. GGS is designed to improve greatly the understanding...	19960225 February 24, 1996	Past
QuikSCAT QuikSCAT mission is intended to record sea-surface wind speed and direction data under all weather and cloud conditions over Earth's oceans. QuikSCAT was initiated as a...	19990620 June 19, 1999	Operating
Radarsat Canada's Radarsat is a radar satellite featuring variable resolution, and different view angles at a number of preset...	19951104 November 04, 1995	Past
Ranger The Ranger project of the 1960s was the first U.S. effort to launch probes directly toward the Moon. The spacecraft were designed to relay pictures and other data as they...	19610823 August 22, 1961	Past
RBSP The RBSP mission will provide scientific understanding, ideally to the point of predictability, of how populations of relativistic electrons and ions in space form and change...	20120514 May 14, 2012	Development
RHESSI Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscope Imager (RHESSI)  studies solar flares in X-rays and gamma-rays. It explores the basic physics of particle acceleration and...	20020205 February 05, 2002	Operating
ROSAT The ROentgen SATellite, was an X-ray observatory developed through a cooperative program between the Germany, the United States, and the United...	19900601 June 01, 1990	Past
Rosetta The Rosetta Orbiter will study the origin of comets, the relationship between cometary and interstellar material and its implications with regard to the origin of the Solar...	20040303 March 02, 2004	Operating
RXTE Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer studies variability over time in the emission of X-ray sources, with moderate spectral resolution. This time behavior is a source of important...	19951231 December 30, 1995	Operating

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