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SMD – Science Leadership

What is SMD?

The Science Mission Directorate (SMD) engages the Nation’s science community, sponsors scientific research, and develops and deploys satellites and probes in collaboration with NASA’s partners around the world to answer fundamental questions requiring the view from and into space. SMD seeks to understand the origins, evolution, and destiny of the universe and to understand the nature of the strange phenomena that shape it.

Office of the Associate Administrator

NASA Science Mission Directorate organizational chart as of September 17, 2025. It shows the Office of the Associate Administrator, led by Nicola Fox with Deputy Mark Clampin, and branches for Management, Exploration, Research, Programs, and the Mars Sample Return Program Office. Subdivisions include Earth Science, Joint Agency Satellite, Heliophysics, Planetary Science, Biological and Physical Sciences, and Astrophysics, with listed directors, deputies, and associate directors.