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Explorers Program

Providing frequent flight opportunities for world-class scientific investigations from space utilizing innovative, streamlined and efficient management approaches within the heliophysics and astrophysics science areas.

Explorers are opportunities for innovative science and fill the scientific gaps between the larger missions. The program seeks to enhance public awareness of, and appreciation for, space science and to incorporate educational and public outreach activities as integral parts of space science investigations.

Go to Explorers

An artistic rendering of a space mission shows multiple spacecraft and satellite components in Earth's orbit. The Earth is partially visible in the foreground, with city lights and cloud cover. A large telescope-like spacecraft is on the left, while several other satellite modules are drifting toward the right, with the Sun glowing in the background. A distant galaxy is also visible in deep space.

Extended

illustration of the Hubble Space Telescope with whimsical galaxies, planets, and stars

Hubble Space Telescope

An artist's illustration of the Chandra spacecraft in orbit.

XMM-Newton Mission Poster

NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, shown in this illustration, launched into Earth orbit in November 2004. The satellite investigates gamma-ray bursts, the most energetic explosions in the universe. Swift observes the sky in visible, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray light. Its name reflects its ability to rapidly follow up on interesting objects in the sky. Swift also studies supernova explosions, star-shredding black holes in other galaxies, comets, stellar remnants called neutron stars, and other cosmic phenomena. In 2018, NASA renamed Swift in honor of the late Neil Gehrels, who helped develop the mission and served as its principal investigator for 13 years.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle)

Image of the Fermi e-book cover

A spacecraft pictured against a star field of black, with shades of blue from dark to almost white in the background. The craft consists of two modules at either end of a long metal latticework scaffold running horizontally across the frame. On the left module, a single solar panel extends upward, shining white and bright blue in sunlight. The right-side module is more bulky, and looks like a fist wrapped in aluminum foil.

Artist concept of TESS spacecraft.

An artist drawing of the IXPE spacecraft in space.

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

Operating

A montage of the Webb Space Telescope over a composited background of stars and galaxies.

James Webb Space Telescope

ESA Euclid spacecraft, shown in this artist impression, is scheduled to launch in 2020 with participation from NASA.

Implementation

Artist's concept of the SPHEREx observatory in orbit.

Roman Space Telescope spacecraft animation still

Arist's concept of the COSI spacecraft

Artist's image of European ARIEL spacecraft

Galaxy Cluster SpARCS1049+56

Left: A metallic curved square with a round hole in its center is mounted in a circular indentation in a grid. Right: Two curved rectangular items along with two small cylindrical items are mounted in a circular indentation in a grid.

Hubble_ngc_6543_cats_eye_nebula_jan_1995

Artist's concept of Pandora viewing a transiting exoplanet

A rendering of the Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO), which is a NASA Long Duration Balloon payload that will launch in 2025 and search for ultra-high energy astrophysical neutrinos.

Left: A metallic curved square with a round hole in its center is mounted in a circular indentation in a grid. Right: Two curved rectangular items along with two small cylindrical items are mounted in a circular indentation in a grid.

Illustration of center of dusty, red spiral galaxy with a bright nucleus.

Formulation

ULTRASAT mission banner

Hubble Photographs Grand Design Spiral Galaxy M81

A blue cloud fills the left side of the image. The blue cloud transitions to white and then reddish yellow toward its edge. A plume of yellow gas extends from the cloud in the lower-right quadrant of the image. one prominent knot in the cloud, near the plume, is a proplyd.

Winds and Radiation from a Massive Star in the Bubble Nebula

Tarantula Nebula

Pre-Formulation

A small red dot is in the middle of the image. To its upper left is a face-on spiral galaxy, and to its lower right is an edge-on spiral galaxy. A handful of other small background galaxies are seen against the black background of space.

The Crab Nebula across the full spectrum from Radio to X-ray

Keep Exploring

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