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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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What’s Up: February 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA

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NASA’s ESCAPADE Ready to Study Space Weather from Earth to Mars

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NASA’s Webb Examines Cranium Nebula

Side-by-side images of the same nebula show how differently it appears in near-infrared, on the left, versus mid-infrared light, on the right. Left image is labeled NIRCam and the right is labeled MIRI.

In near-infrared, the nebula’s outer bubble has a white edge and its inner clouds are orange, with a distinct dark lane cutting vertically through the center. Stars and background galaxies appear around the nebula and through the outer bubble.

In mid-infrared, the outer bubble has a bluish tint and there is more material in the inner clouds, which are colored off-white. The vertical dark lane is still present but more interrupted and covered by the clouds. Material appears to be erupting out the top of the nebula, and this effect is mirrored to a lesser degree at the bottom, opposite end.

Featured Missions

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Chesapeake Bay Locked in Ice

Dry-Season Floods Drench Northern Colombia

NASA’s Webb Examines Cranium Nebula

Landslide and Avalanche Debris Litter Hubbard Glacier

Technology Originally Developed for Space Missions Now Integral to Everyday Life

Featured Video

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

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2026 NASA Science Calendar

A visualization from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) showing the diverse geological landscape of Mars' Gale Crater that NASA's Curiosity rover has been exploring. The image captures a steep slope with distinct layered rock formations in varied colors including reddish-brown, tan, and purplish hues. The upper portion of the image shows the Gediz Vallis channel, while below are visible bands of sedimentary deposits created over millions of years. These layers contain sulfates and other minerals that formed as water evaporated, providing evidence of Mars' ancient watery past. The terrain's rich geological variation offers crucial information about Mars' climate history and potential habitability for microbial life approximately 3.7 billion years ago. This enhanced color image was created in March 2024 using data from the HiRISE camera and other instruments aboard MRO.

Image of the Month

February: Curiosity’s Climb for Climate Clues

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.

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.

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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.

Black and white image shows now-frozen grey lobes of flow that came from the lower right. Sunlight boulders moved by the flow appear as irregular white lumps.

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

Division 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.

Chart showing the different phases of the Moon

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

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NASA Science Strategy

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

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People of NASA Science

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

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NASA Science Careers

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

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