Earth Science Missions

Seeing Earth from Space

By the end of the decade, the five missions of NASA’s Earth System Observatory (ESO) will be providing a holistic, 3D view of our planet from atmosphere to bedrock. The ESO missions – drawn from recommendations of the 2017 Earth Science Decadal Survey – will provide key information to guide decisions related to climate change, severe weather and other natural hazards, wildfires, and global food production. The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) is the ESO pathfinder mission. Competitively selected, PI-led Earth Explorer missions will augment ESO.

Monitoring Earth Via Satellite

An animated view of NASA's Earth observing fleet, as it looks today. This 30 second visualization is updated once per day. Time shown in UTC. Credit: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio / Kel Elkins and Greg Shirah
An image showing Earth from space at a distance, superimposed over the surrounding space are images and names of the current and planned satellites NASA's Earth division will use to observe the planet.
NASA's Earth observing fleet as of 10.31.24

Earth Science Missions

This page has prepared a full list of NASA's Earth Science Missions with search selection options to explore further.

Explore Now
This wide-angle photo offers the feeling of looking out over the Persian Gulf from an altitude of about 250 miles. View the full story
NASA / Expedition 69 Crew