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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.

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Ontario Wildfire Smoke Moves East

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Viking: 50 Years on Mars

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NASA’s Psyche Mission Images Details of Martian Surface During Flyby
A commemorative NASA poster featuring an artist's concept of the Viking lander resting on a rocky Martian landscape. A bright sun sets directly behind the lander, casting a brilliant backlight against a vibrant orange sky that slowly fades into a starry backdrop at the top. A faint, thin white outline of a massive number "50" frames the lander in the background sky. Scattered in the sky and silhouetted along the horizon are various other Mars exploration vehicles from the past 50 years, including three small helicopters overhead, representing the future SkyFall mission, the InSight lander in the far background, the Perseverance rover at right, and the Spirit and Opportunity rovers at left. The NASA logo is in the top right corner. At the bottom left, large white text reads "VIKING," followed by a smaller subheadline: "The lander that broke ground on 50 years of Mars surface exploration."

How Far We’ve Come

Viking, 1976
Perseverance, 2024
This color picture of Mars was taken July 21, 1997, the day following NASA's Viking l successfully landed on the red planet.
PIA00563
NASA/JPL
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie, made up of 62 individual images, on July 23, 2024. A rock nicknamed Cheyava Falls is to the left of the rover near the center of the image.
PIA26344
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
This color picture of Mars was taken July 21, 1997, the day following NASA's Viking l successfully landed on the red planet.
PIA00563
NASA/JPL
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie, made up of 62 individual images, on July 23, 2024. A rock nicknamed Cheyava Falls is to the left of the rover near the center of the image.
PIA26344
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Viking, 1976
Perseverance, 2024

Then and now

From Viking to Perseverance

Two views from the surface of Mars — July 21, 1976, and July 23, 2024 — separated by 4,200 miles (7,200 kilometers) and 48 years.

The image at left is the first color picture from the surface of Mars, taken July 21, 1976, the day following Viking l’s successful landing on the planet. The local time on Mars is approximately noon, and the view is southeast from Viking. Orange-red surface materials cover most of the terrain, apparently forming a thin veneer over darker bedrock exposed in patches, as in the lower right. The image at right — 48 years and 2 days later, and about 4,200 miles away (7,200 kilometers) — is a selfie by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on July 23, 2024, made up of 62 individual images. A rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls” is to the left of the rover near the center of the image, with a drill hole visible in its center. The sample cored from that rock, after a year of intensive study, was confirmed to have “potential biosignatures” — clues that point to the possibility of ancient microbial life on Mars

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NASA’s Psyche Mission Images Details of Martian Surface During Flyby

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A Tide-Fueled Trove of Biodiversity in Guinea-Bissau

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Telescope Milestone: Teams Check Out NASA Roman Solar Panels

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Ontario Wildfire Smoke Moves East

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Eye on Dragonfly Live: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at NASA’s Mission to Titan

Join NASA and Johns Hopkins APL for Eye on Dragonfly Live, an inside look at NASA’s Dragonfly mission as it reaches another exciting milestone on the path to Saturn’s moon Titan. Hear directly from Dragonfly scientists and engineers as they discuss the spacecraft’s latest progress through integration and testing, explain how Dragonfly will explore Titan, and answer audience questions about the mission.

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2026 NASA Science Calendar

Enhanced satellite image from NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) showing a massive nor'easter over the Atlantic Ocean on February 14, 2024. The storm appears as a dramatic spiral structure with vibrant false-color representation: bright yellow and orange areas in the center indicate thick, high-altitude ice clouds, while green and teal regions around the edges represent warmer cloud formations. The image displays the classic counterclockwise rotation of the storm system extending from eastern Canada southward toward the Caribbean. Thin black outlines show coastlines of North America. The visualization was captured by the VIIRS instrument, highlighting different cloud types and temperatures through color enhancement. This powerful storm system began in the Southwestern United States on February 10, eventually developing into a nor'easter that caused significant disruptions across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states.

Image of the Month

July – Nor’easter Moves into the Atlantic

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NASA Science 2026 artwork commemorating America's 250th Anniversary. The illustration uses blue tones with warm pastel accents showing humanity's space exploration journey. An open history book at the bottom emits light, with Earth emerging above it. A pathway extends from the book past the Moon, Mars, and Saturn into deep space, featuring spacecraft including NISAR, ISS, Parker Solar Probe, LRO, MRO, Dragonfly, NEO Surveyor, Webb, and Roman Space Telescope. An Artemis astronaut and robotic rover appear on opposite pages of the book, with the astronaut stepping onto the cosmic path—symbolizing how scientific discovery leads the way for human exploration in our journey beyond Earth.

Download the Cover

Learn about those of the NASA corps who make “space sailing” their career profession.

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A composite image of star cluster NGC 602 nicknamed the 'Cosmic Wreath,' combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and James Webb Space Telescope. The image shows a striking ring-like formation of colorful gas and dust (in orange, yellow, green, and blue) resembling a wreath, captured by Webb. At the center and throughout the wreath are bright red spots representing X-ray emissions detected by Chandra, showing hot, young massive stars powering intense stellar winds. The cluster appears set against a backdrop of countless stars and distant galaxies. Located in the Small Magellanic Cloud about 200,000 light-years from Earth, this star-forming region contains stars with fewer heavy elements than our Sun, mimicking conditions from the early universe and providing insights into cosmic evolution before our own solar system formed.

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See all images for 2026

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A Legacy of Discovery, Built for the Future

Some discoveries answer questions. The best ones inspire new ones.
For generations, NASA missions have done both, turning questions into knowledge and knowledge into new possibilities.
Every image from another world, every distant galaxy brought into focus, and every new understanding of our universe has opened doors we didn’t even know existed, inspiring us all to keep pushing beyond the known. Because after all, there is still so much left to discover.

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Countdown to Roman

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will settle essential questions in the areas of dark energy, exoplanets, and astrophysics.

Learn About The Mission about Countdown to Roman
A stylized NASA poster for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The dark, angular telescope is depicted emerging upwards from an open book. Brilliant vertical rays of orange, blue, and purple light shine up from the pages into a starry cosmos. Glowing blue orbital rings swirl around the telescope, carrying miniature satellites, planets, and galaxies. The text 'NANCY GRACE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE' is prominently displayed at the bottom in white, and the NASA logo is in the top left corner.
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What’s Up: July 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA

A predawn meetup between the Moon and planets, a returning comet, dark skies for the Milky Way, and Saturn’s unusually thin rings.
Before sunrise on July 11 and 12, look east/southeast for the waning crescent Moon, Mars, and Saturn. Uranus is in the same part of the sky, but you will need binoculars or a telescope to spot it.
Around July 14, use binoculars or a telescope to seek Comet 10P/Tempel 2 under dark skies of the New Moon. Those nights are also a great time to look for the Milky Way, while later in the month Saturn’s rings appear strikingly thin through a telescope.

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LANDSAT

A Spaceship Called Earth

With NASA’s “Your Name in Landsat” online interactive, users can type in their name, then view and export the graphic of that name spelled out in Earth features found in Landsat images.

See Your Name in Landsat
Poster featuring vertical satellite images of Earth's diverse landscapes arranged to spell "EARTHDAY." Below the images, text reads: “Celebrate Earth from space with NASA” on a black background.
Mark your calendars

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 Events
A horizontal panoramic composition displays four distinct phases of the Moon arranged linearly against a stark, solid black background. Starting from the far left, a Full Moon is shown in complete illumination, revealing the intricate textures of its craters and dark volcanic plains. Moving to the right, the Third Quarter phase appears half-lit on the left side, followed by a New Moon depicted as a faint, dark silhouette barely distinguishable from the void. The sequence concludes on the far right with a First Quarter moon, illuminated on its right half. The progression highlights the stark play of light and shadow across the lunar topography, illustrating a simplified version of the lunar cycle.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Featured Missions

Our mission milestones showcase the breadth and depth of NASA science.

All Science Missions

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.

More about IMAP
Artist's concept of Pandora viewing a transiting exoplanet

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.

More about Pandora
Dragonfly on the ground

Dragonfly

Dragonfly, the first-of-its-kind rotorcraft to explore another world, will fly to various locations on Saturn’s moon Titan and investigate the moon’s habitability.

More about Dragonfly

Dive Deeper

NASA Science 2026 artwork commemorating America's 250th Anniversary. The illustration uses blue tones with warm pastel accents showing humanity's space exploration journey. An open history book at the bottom emits light, with Earth emerging above it. A pathway extends from the book past the Moon, Mars, and Saturn into deep space, featuring spacecraft including NISAR, ISS, Parker Solar Probe, LRO, MRO, Dragonfly, NEO Surveyor, Webb, and Roman Space Telescope. An Artemis astronaut and robotic rover appear on opposite pages of the book, with the astronaut stepping onto the cosmic path—symbolizing how scientific discovery leads the way for human exploration in our journey beyond Earth.

SMD Community Public Meetings

View upcoming and past community public meetings.

Public Meetings

NASA Science Strategy

Our science strategy articulates a forward-thinking vision and presents a comprehensive, cohesive and long-term roadmap for all NASA activities.

Science Strategy

People of NASA Science

Meet the individuals who are instrumental in enabling the realization of NASA Science’s extraordinary mission.

People of Science

NASA Science Careers

Discover career opportunities at NASA Science, where innovation, growth and collaboration shape the future of scientific exploration.

Science Careers