Planetary Science Programs - NASA Science

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Mars Exploration Program

The key to understanding the past, present, or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four broad overarching goals for Mars exploration.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie, made up of 62 individual images, on July 23. A rock nicknamed �Cheyava Falls,� which has features that may bear on the question of whether the Red Planet was long ago home to microscopic life, is to the left of the rover near the center of the image.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie, made up of 62 individual images, on July 23, 2024. A rock nicknamed "Cheyava Falls," which has features that may bear on the question of whether the Red Planet was long ago home to microscopic life, is to the left of the rover near the center of the image.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Exploring the Solar System

Discovery Program

The goal of NASA’s Discovery Program is to provide frequent flight opportunities for high-quality, high-value, focused, planetary science investigations that can be accomplished under a not-to-exceed cost cap.

The frequent, steady nature of the investigations will ensure a continuing stream of fresh scientific data to the planetary science community, helping to maintain the excellence of the U.S. planetary science program and to inspire the next generation of investigators.

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Lucy is the first mission to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
New Frontiers Program

The New Frontiers Program is designed to accomplish focused planetary science investigations using innovative and efficient management approaches. The Program’s prime objective is to answer unique science questions in the exploration of the Solar System.

New Frontiers investigation proposals are solicited via the Announcement of Opportunity (AO) process. Each mission proposal is led by a principal investigator (PI) who is typically affiliated with a university or research institution.

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Artist's impression of NASA's Dragonfly on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan.
NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben

understanding our moon

Lunar Discovery and 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.

The Moon’s surface is shown in an array of hues covering all the colors in the rainbow. An elevation color bar is on the right with the colors beginning in the white at 10,760 meters and ends in the blue at negative 9,150 meters. Most of the lunar map is a bright orange and yellow, while at the south pole blue and purple dominate that area. The green hues are peaking through the orange to show places of lower elevation.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) team released this topographical image of the Moon’s surface which was achieved by using the LRO Wide Angle Camera (WAC) and the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA).

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/DLR/Arizona State University

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Planetary Defense

The Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) manages NASA's ongoing mission of finding, tracking, and better understanding asteroids and comets that could pose an impact hazard to Earth.

Watch the video and click the link below to learn more.

looking for life

Astrobiology

NASA’s Astrobiology Program investigates life in the Universe on many levels: how it began, how it evolved here on Earth, and where it might exist elsewhere.

This illustration depicts a warm hued underwater landscape framed by a spherical cave opening. The microscopic building blocks of life - molecules, amino acids, proteins, bacteria, microorganisms, and extremophiles - appear to grow on surfaces and float throughout the composition. Ediacaran fossils are embedded in the surrounding rock. Hot smokers and stromatolites decorate the foreground and slime molds and lichens fill out the scene. A central hydrothermal vent emits glowing gold particles which coalesce into the shape of a human being. Molecular structures intersperse with these particles and drift upward toward the water’s blue-lit surface. The rippling reflection on surface resembles a distant spiral galaxy. From stars to life, we are the same.

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peaks of wave data showing while against a black background

Planetary Citizen Science

NASA planetary citizen science projects, open to anyone around the world, encourage volunteers to join research projects exploring the origins and composition of our solar system.

Two men work on a grand piano-sized spacecraft wrapped in a gold insulating blanket. A large cylinder, a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, sticks out of the side.

Radioisotope Power Systems

Radioisotope power systems (RPS) is a type of nuclear energy technology that uses heat to produce electric power for operating spacecraft systems in the darkest, dustiest, and most distant places in our solar system.

A crater with a mounded floor and ejecta streaks radiating from the center of the crater.

SSERVI

The Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) addresses questions fundamental to human and robotic exploration of the Moon, Near Earth Asteroids, the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos, and the near space environments of these target bodies.

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Our Solar System

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Pluto & Dwarf Planets