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Exoplanet Missions

NASA explores exoplanets using a range of telescopes.

This artists concept shows a timeline of exoplanet-focused and general astrophysics missions with launch dates from 1990 to 2026.

NASA supports a range of missions for exoplanet discovery and characterization. These missions include satellites designed specifically to study exoplanets and observatories built for general astrophysics, which have made valuable contributions to exoplanet science.

Exoplanet-Focused Missions

These NASA missions have been designed specifically for exoplanet exploration.

The artistic concept shows NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft operating in a new mission profile called K2. Using publicly available data, astronomers may have confirmed K2's first discovery of star with more than one planet. Image Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T Pyle

Kepler/K2

The Kepler space telescope was NASA’s first exoplanet-hunting mission. During nine years in deep space Kepler, and its second act, the extended mission dubbed K2, discovered thousands of transiting exoplanets and showed that there are more exoplanets than stars.
Launch: March 6, 2009
End of mission: Oct. 30, 2018 (Kepler transitioned to K2 on Nov. 4, 2012)
Type: Space Telescope (Discovery Mission)
Wavelengths: Visible/Near IR (420-900 nm)
Exoplanet Techniques: Transits

Read More About Kepler/K2
This image shows Electrical Test Engineer Esha Murty and Integration and Test Lead Cody Colley preparing the ASTERIA spacecraft for mass-properties measurements in April 2017.

Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics (ASTERIA)

ASTERIA was a 6U CubeSat that demonstrated stable, arcsecond-level pointing and thermal control, important for precision photometry, which is used to measure stellar activity and planet transits. ASTERIA was the first CubeSat to detect an exoplanet transit.
Launch: Aug. 14, 2017
End of mission: Dec. 5, 2019
Type: CubeSat, Technology demonstration
Wavelengths: Visible/Near IR (500-900 nm)
Exoplanet Techniques: Transits

Read More About ASTERIA
Artist concept of TESS spacecraft.

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)

TESS is an all-sky survey, composed of four wide-field cameras, designed to discover transiting exoplanets, particularly small planets around small, bright stars nearby. TESS has discovered thousands of planet candidates.

Launch: April 18, 2018
Type: Space Telescope (Explorer Mission)
Wavelengths: Visible/Near IR (600-1,000 nm)
Exoplanet Techniques: Transits

Read More About TESS
A satellite above planet Earth; the satellite consists of a rectangular box with four flat rectangular solar array panels attached.

Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE)

CUTE is a 6U CubeSat that characterizes the composition and mass-loss rates of transiting exoplanet atmospheres, using near-UV transmission spectroscopy.
Launch: Sept. 27, 2021
Type: CubeSat
Wavelengths: Near-UV (255 - 330 nm)
Exoplanet Techniques: Transits, Spectroscopy

Read More About CUTE
The Pandora spacecraft with an exoplanet and two stars in the background

Pandora

Pandora is a small satellite designed to characterize the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets and the activity of their host stars with long-duration multiwavelength observations.
Launch: Jan. 11, 2026
Type: SmallSat (Pioneers Mission)
Wavelengths: Visible (380-750 nm) & Near-IR (860-1,630 nm)
Exoplanet Techniques: Spectroscopy

Read More About Pandora
An artist's conception of SPARCS in space.

Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS)

SPARCS is a 6U CubeSat devoted to monitoring 20 low-mass stars, to provide the time-dependent spectral slope, intensity, and evolution of their UV radiation.
Launch: Jan. 11, 2026
Type: CubeSat, Technology demonstration
Wavelengths: Far-UV (153 - 171 nm) & Near-UV (260 - 300 nm)
Exoplanet Techniques: Stellar environment

Read More About SPARCS

General Astrophysics Missions

These NASA missions have made valuable contributions across astrophysics, including exoplanet science.

Hubble orbiting above earth

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

The first of NASA's Great Observatories, Hubble is a 2.4-meter space telescope that has made numerous firsts in exoplanet science, including the first detection of an exoplanet atmosphere, organic molecules on an exoplanet, water vapor on an exoplanet in the habitable zone, and atmospheric escape.
Launch: April 24, 1990
Wavelengths: UV, Visible, & Near-IR (115 -2,500 nm)
Exoplanet Techniques: Transits, Spectroscopy, Imaging

Read More about Hubble
An illustration of the Chandra X-ray Observatory in space.

Chandra X-ray Observatory

Chandra is the X-ray component of NASA's Great Observatories. Chandra's measurements have provided information on interactions between exoplanets and their host stars, the environment around potential planet hosts, and detection of a possible exoplanet beyond the Milky Way galaxy.
Launch: July 23, 1999
Wavelengths: X-Ray (0.12 -12 nm)
Exoplanet Techniques: Stellar environment, Transits

Read More about Chandra
In this artist's rendering of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in space, the background is shown in infrared light.

Spitzer Space Telescope

Spitzer was the infrared component of NASA's Great Observatories. It was the first telescope to directly detect light from an exoplanet, and its measurements were used to make the first weather map of an exoplanet, showing temperature variations across the face of the planet.
Launch: Aug. 25, 2003
End of mission: Jan. 30, 2020
Wavelengths: IR (3,600-160,000 nm)
Exoplanet Techniques: Phase curves, Transits, Spectroscopy

Read More about Spitzer
A montage of the Webb Space Telescope over a composited background of stars and galaxies.

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Webb is a 6.5-meter infrared observatory that is characterizing exoplanets in unprecedented detail. It has made the first detection of numerous molecules, including carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, in an exoplanet atmosphere, and discovered planets using coronagraphy.
Launch: Dec. 25, 2021
Wavelengths: Near-IR (600-5,000 nm) & Mid,Long-IR (5,000-27,000 nm)
Exoplanet Techniques: Spectroscopy, Imaging

Read More about Webb
An illustration of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Roman is a 2.4-meter space telescope with a wide-field instrument that is expected to discover thousands of exoplanets through microlensing and transits, in its survey of the inner Milky Way. Roman will also demonstrate the coronagraphy technology needed to image exoplanets 10 million times dimmer than their host stars.
Launch: Expected by May 2027
Wavelengths: IR (500-2,000 nm)
Exoplanet Techniques: Microlensing, Transits, Imaging

Read More about Roman
Artists concept of exoplanets. Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech

Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO)

HWO is a future large near-infrared/optical/ultraviolet space telescope currently in development. HWO will be the first telescope designed specifically to search for signs of life on Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars, through direct imaging and spectroscopy 
Launch: TBD
Wavelengths: UV, Visible, IR
Exoplanet Techniques: Imaging, Spectroscopy

Read More about HWO
An infographic showing illustrations of spacecraft and ground-based observatories. At the bottom of the image, pictured atop brown, rocky terrain, are the domes and open roofs of five different observatories. Above that, a background shows a portion of Earth from space, with the brilliant sun shining in the upper left. Areas of land and sea are visible, then a blue horizon line where the atmopshere meets space, which is dark blue and extends to the top of the image. Against that background, three swooping lines run in parallel, from the lower left corner of the frame toward the upper right corner, before turning downward, each ending in a sharp point. Along each line is a row of spacecraft — six space telescopes along the top line (labeled Hubble, Spitzer, Kepler/K2, TESS, JWST, and Roman), five smaller spacecraft along the next line down (labeled CoRoT, Gaia, CHEOPS, PLATO, and ARIEL/CASE), and four even smaller raft on the line below that (labeled ASTERIA, CUTE, SPARCS, and Pandora).
An infographic of NASA's spacecraft, partner missions, and ground telescopes used in exoplanet exploration. The illustration shows past, present, and future exoplanet exploration facilities.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

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An infographic showing illustrations of spacecraft and ground-based observatories. At the bottom of the image, pictured atop brown, rocky terrain, are the domes and open roofs of five different observatories. Above that, a background shows a portion of Earth from space, with the brilliant sun shining in the upper left. Areas of land and sea are visible, then a blue horizon line where the atmopshere meets space, which is dark blue and extends to the top of the image. Against that background, three swooping lines run in parallel, from the lower left corner of the frame toward the upper right corner, before turning downward, each ending in a sharp point. Along each line is a row of spacecraft — six space telescopes along the top line (labeled Hubble, Spitzer, Kepler/K2, TESS, JWST, and Roman), five smaller spacecraft along the next line down (labeled CoRoT, Gaia, CHEOPS, PLATO, and ARIEL/CASE), and four even smaller raft on the line below that (labeled ASTERIA, CUTE, SPARCS, and Pandora).

Exoplanet Missions Infographic and Opportunities List

May 29, 2025

PDF (1.90 MB)

This artists concept shows a timeline of exoplanet-focused and general astrophysics missions with launch dates from 1990 to 2026.

Exoplanet Missions Timeline

Apr 2, 2026

JPEG (4.31 MB)

Learn More and Get Involved

The CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m telescope is shown in a nighttime image taken by Rodrigo Hinojosa in December 2018.

NASA-NSF Exoplanet Observational Research

NN-EXPLORE is a partnership between NASA and the National Science Foundation to provide the astronomy community with the tools and access to conduct ground-based observations that advance exoplanet science.

At the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, NASA astronomers have linked the two 10-meter (33-foot) telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory. The linked telescopes, together are called the Keck Interferometer, the world's most powerful optical telescope system.

NASA Exoplanet Science Institute

NExScI is a science operations and analysis service organization for NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program that is home to the NASA Exoplanet Archive and access to NASA's time on the Keck telescopes.

Mission Resources

colorful retro illustration of the TESS space telescope and planetary systems

TESS Science Support Center

Information, tools, and helpdesk support for TESS data and observations

A photograph of JWST's golden mirror

JWST for Scientists

Information about proposals, instrument capabilities, data analysis tools and software for JWST

Roman/Webb comparison infographic

Roman Science Planning Toolbox

Software and tools for Roman and links to more information about the telescope

Two engineers talk in the Hubble control center waiting for the Shuttle to launch

HST User Information

Information about proposals, instrumentation, and documentation for HST

This image of the Crab Nebula combines data from five different telescopes. It is know as the expanding gaseous remnant from a star that self-detonated as a supernova, briefly shining as brightly as 400 million suns.

Chandra X-ray Center

Access Chandra data, proposal information, tools, and publications

This image from NASA's Kepler mission shows the telescope's full field of view an expansive star-rich patch of sky in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra stretching across 100 square degrees, or the equivalent of two side-by-side dips of the Big Dipper.

Kepler Mission Data

Data products and documentation for Kepler and K2

A large sphere sits at the center of the image, mostly dark fuchsia at the top, bottom, and bands through the middle, whilte the space between the bands is red and pink-orange. The background is the black backdrop of space, with countless multicolored stars.

Spitzer Science Center

Access the Spitzer Science Center and more mission information

Managed by the Exoplanet Exploration Program and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA’s Astrophysics Division

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NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI)