NASA 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).

DIVISION	NAME	LAUNCH DATE	PHASE
Heliophysics	ACE Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) observes particles of solar, interplanetary, interstellar, and galactic origins, spanning the energy range from solar wind ions to galactic cosmic ray nuclei. This mission is part of SMD's Explorers Program. This mission is part of SMD's ...	19970825August 25, 1997	3Operating
Earth	ACRIMSAT ACRIMSAT is the latest in a series of long-term solar-monitoring missions, utilizing the proven Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor III (ACRIM III) instrument. This mission is part of SMD's Earth Systematic Missions program.	19991220December 20, 1999	3Operating
Earth	ADEOS Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS) was the first international space platform dedicated to Earth environmental research developed and managed by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) (The Japanese call her MIDORI).	19960817August 17, 1996	4Past
Heliophysics	AIM Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) is a mission to determine the causes of the highest altitude clouds in the Earth's atmosphere. The number of clouds in the middle atmosphere (mesosphere) over the Earth's poles has been increasing over ...	20070425April 25, 2007	3Operating
Earth	AirMOSS North American ecosystems are critical components of the global carbon cycle, exchanging large amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases with the atmosphere. Root-zone soil measurements can be used to better understand these carbon fluxes and their associated uncertainties on ...	20120301March 2012	3Operating
Earth	Aqua Aqua obtains a set of precise atmosphere and oceans measurements to understand their role in Earth's climate and its variations. Aqua carries six state-of-the-art instruments to observe the Earth's oceans, atmosphere, land, ice and snow covers, and vegetation, providing high ...	20020504May 04, 2002	3Operating
Earth	Aquarius Aquarius is a focused satellite mission to measure global sea surface salinity (SSS). Its instruments measure changes in SSS equivalent to about a "pinch" (i.e., 1/6 of a teaspoon) of salt in 1 gallon of water. By measuring SSS over ...	20110610June 10, 2011	3Operating
Astrophysics	ASCA ASCA was the first X-ray astronomy mission to combine imaging capability with a broad pass band, good spectral resolution, and a large effective area. The mission was also the first satellite to use CCDs for X-ray astronomy.	19930220February 20, 1993	4Past
Astrophysics	ASTRO-H ASTRO-H is a powerful orbiting observatory being developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for studying extremely energetic processes in the universe. NASA and the JAXA/Institute of Space and Astronautical Science have teamed up to develop a high resolution ...	201502152015	2Development
Astrophysics	Astro Observatory (ASTRO 1 & 2) The "Astro Observatory" was developed as a system of telescopes that could fly multiple times on the space shuttle.	19901202December 02, 1990	4Past
Earth	ATLAS ATLAS missions were part of Phase I of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth, a large-scale, unified study of planet Earth as a single, dynamic system. Throughout the ATLAS series, scientists gathered new information to gain a better understanding of how ...	19920324March 24, 1992	4Past
Earth	ATS The Applications Technology Satellite series was a set of 6 NASA spacecraft created to explore & flight test new technologies and techniques for communications, meteorological and navigation satellites.	19661207December 07, 1966	4Past
Earth	ATTREX Stratospheric water vapor has large impacts on the earth’s climate and energy budget. Future changes in stratospheric humidity and ozone concentration in response to changing climate are significant climate feedbacks.	20111201December 2011	3Operating
Earth	Aura The Aura satellite hosts a suite of scientific instruments designed to make the most comprehensive measurements ever undertaken of atmospheric trace gases. Aura's objective is to study the chemistry and dynamics of the Earth's atmosphere with emphasis on the upper ...	20040715July 15, 2004	3Operating
Heliophysics	BARREL The Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses mission is a balloon-based Mission of Opportunity to augment the measurements of NASA's RBSP spacecraft. This mission is part of SMD's LWS program.		2Development
Astrophysics	BBXRT The Broad Band X-ray Telescope (BBXRT) was the first focusing X-ray telescope to operate over a broad energy range (0.3-12 keV) with moderate energy resolution. BBXRT was flown on the space shuttle Columbia (STS-35) on December 2-11, 1990, as part ...	19901202December 02, 1990	4Past
Earth	CALIPSO The CALIPSO satellite was developed to help scientists answer significant questions and provide new information about the effects of clouds and aerosols (airborne particles) on changes in the Earth's climate. Understanding these components will provide the international science community with ...	20060428April 28, 2006	3Operating
Earth	CARVE The carbon budget of Arctic ecosystems is not known with confidence since fundamental elements of the complex Arctic biological-climatologic-hydrologic system are poorly quantified. Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment (CARVE) will collect detailed measurements of important greenhouse gases on local ...	201203012012	3Operating
Planets	Cassini The Cassini Mission is in the midst of a detailed study of Saturn, its rings, its magnetosphere, its icy satellites, and its moon Titan. Cassini also delivered a probe (called Huygens, provided by the European Space Agency) to Titan, and ...	19971015October 15, 1997	3Operating
Astrophysics	CGRO Compton Gamma Ray Observatory mission studied very energetic celestial phenomena: solar flares, cosmic gamma-ray bursts, pulsars, nova and supernova explosions, accreting black holes of stellar dimensions, quasar emission, and interactions of cosmic rays with the interstellar medium. Compton left a ...	19910405April 05, 1991	4Past
Earth	CHAMP CHAMP generated, for the first time, simultaneously highly precise gravity and magnetic field measurements over a 10 year period. This allows the tracing of spatial and time variations of both fields for a long time. The provision of regularly radio ...	20000715July 15, 2000	4Past
Astrophysics	Chandra Chandra explores the hot turbulent regions in space with images 25 times sharper than previous x-ray pictures. Chandra is performing detailed studies of black holes, supernovas, and dark matter, to increase our understanding of the origin, evolution, and destiny of ...	19990723July 23, 1999	3Operating
Planets	Chandrayaan-1 (M3) The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) is one of two instruments that NASA is contributing to India's first mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-1, which is scheduled to be launched in 2008. This mission is part of SMD's Discovery Program. This mission ...	20081022October 22, 2008	4Past
Astrophysics	CHIPS CHIPS launched on January 12, 2003 and carried out an all-sky spectroscopy of the diffuse background at wavelengths from 90 to 260 Å.	20030112January 12, 2003	4Past
Heliophysics	CINDI/CNOFS The Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigations (CINDI) is a mission to understand the dynamics of the Earth's ionosphere. CINDI will provide two instruments for the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecast System (C/NOFS) satellite, a project of the United States Air Force. This mission ...	20080416April 16, 2008	3Operating
Earth	CLARREO The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Mission has been recommended in the NRC Decadal Survey as a key component of the future climate observing system. This mission is part of SMD's Earth Systematic Missions program.		1Under Study
Planets	Clementine The Clementine mission was designed to test lightweight miniature sensors and advanced spacecraft components by exposing them, over a long period of time, to the difficult environment of outer space. Clementine also completed the complex task of mapping the moon.	19940125January 25, 1994	4Past
Earth	CloudSat CloudSat uses advanced radar to "slice" through clouds to see their vertical structure, providing a completely new observational capability from space. CloudSat is one of the first satellites to study clouds on a global basis. This mission is part of ...	20060428April 28, 2006	3Operating
Heliophysics	Cluster-II Cluster is a European Space Agency program with major NASA involvement. The 4 Cluster spacecraft are providing a detailed three-dimensional map of the magnetosphere, with surprising results. This mission is part of SMD's Heliophysics Research program.	20000716July 16, 2000	15Extended
Astrophysics	COBE The COBE satellite was developed to measure the diffuse infrared and microwave radiation from the early universe, to the limits set by our astrophysical environment.	19891118November 18, 1989	4Past
Planets	CONTOUR The Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) was a mission intended to greatly expand what is known of comet nuclei and to assess their diversity. This mission is part of SMD's Discovery program.	20020703July 03, 2002	4Past
Earth	CRRES The Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) was launched into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) for a nominal three-year mission to investigate fields, plasmas, and energetic particles inside the Earth's magnetosphere.	19900725July 25, 1990	4Past
Earth	CYGNSS The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes. The goal is a fundamental improvement in hurricane forecasting. The CYGNSS data will enable ...	20161030October 2016	1Under Study

SOURCE- SCIENCE.NASA.GOV

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