NASA Science
NASA Science seeks to discover the secrets of the universe, search for life elsewhere, and protect and improve life on Earth and in space.
Featured Missions
Our mission milestones showcase the breadth and depth of NASA science.
IMAP
Launched September 24, 2025, IMAP will help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, a huge bubble created by the Sun surrounding and protecting our solar system.
Pandora
Pandora is a small satellite designed to characterize exoplanet atmospheres and their host stars. It is slated to observe at least 20 different planets during its one year of science operations.
Lucy
The Lucy mission captured stunning, detailed images of asteroid Donaldjohanson during a fly by on April 20, 2025, as the spacecraft heads towards the distant Trojan asteroids.
NASA Researchers Probe Tangled Magnetospheres of Merging Neutron Stars
New supercomputer simulations explore the tangled magnetic structures around merging neutron stars.
Called magnetospheres, the highly magnetized, plasma-filled regions start to interact as the city-sized stars close on each other toward their final orbits. Magnetic field lines can connect both stars, break, and reconnect, while currents surge through surrounding plasma moving at nearly the speed of light. The simulations show that as these systems merge to produce one kind of gamma-ray burst — the universe’s most powerful class of explosions — they emit tell-tale X-rays and gamma rays that future observatories should be able to detect.
What’s Up: February 2026 Skywatching Tips
The Moon readies for Artemis II, Orion shines bright, and a planetary parade marches across the night sky
More Skywatching Tips from NASA2026 NASA Science Calendar
Download the Cover
Learn about those of the NASA corps who make “space sailing” their career profession.
Do NASA Science:
Lunar Melt
Do NASA Citizen Science and discover the secrets of the universe, search for life elsewhere, and protect and improve life on Earth and in space!
When big asteroids hit the Moon, they can melt the rock they hit and leave a crater. This melted rock flows away from the new crater, picking up and moving chunks of rock, much like a river or beach waves can move sand, pebbles, and even big rocks. The size and placement of these now-frozen flows and the rocks they carried can tell scientists about how much rock was melted, its temperature, and how easily it flowed.
The Lunar Melt project invites you to look at images of the Moon’s surface from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and mark the sizes and locations of impact craters and boulders around them. Your marks will help reveal the rock fragments in melted rock flows, the directions and timing of the flows, and potentially help us harness these flows to better understand the Moon’s interior.
Most Notable 2026 Astronomical Events
This year will be busy for avid skywatchers, with some incredible opportunities to view meteor showers, planets, and the Moon in the night sky.
See the Top Sky Watching EventsDivision Highlight: ESSIO
The Exploration Science Strategy Integration Office (ESSIO) ensures science is infused into all aspects of lunar exploration.
In the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), the Exploration Science Strategy Integration Office (ESSIO) ensures science is infused into all aspects of lunar exploration. Through researching the Moon and its environment, and by using the Moon as an observation platform, NASA strives to gain a greater understanding of the Moon, the solar system, the universe, and the deep space environment.
Dive Deeper
NASA Science Strategy
Our science strategy articulates a forward-thinking vision and presents a comprehensive, cohesive and long-term roadmap for all NASA activities.
People of NASA Science
Meet the individuals who are instrumental in enabling the realization of NASA Science’s extraordinary mission.
NASA Science Careers
Discover career opportunities at NASA Science, where innovation, growth and collaboration shape the future of scientific exploration.
