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NASA Science Missions

Operating

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23... View Mission

Past
Chandrayaan-1 (M3) Mission Image

The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) is a state-of-the-art imaging... View Mission

Past
CHIPS Mission Image

The Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS) was a University-Class Explorer (UNEX)... View Mission

Past
CINDI Mission Image

The Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigations (CINDI), a mission to understand the dynamics of... View Mission

Future

The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Mission has been... View Mission

Past
Clementine Mission Image

Clementine was jointly sponsored by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and NASA... View Mission

Operating

CloudSat uses advanced radar to "slice" through clouds to see their vertical structure,... View Mission

Past

The Cluster II mission is an in-situ investigation of the Earth's magnetosphere using four... View Mission

Past
COBE Mission Image

The purpose of the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) mission was... View Mission

Operating
Two square rings connected by a microchip with red laser images shooting out; text reads Cold Atom Lab studying quantum phenomena in ways that aren't possible on Earth

The Cold Atom Laboratory makes use of the ISS's microgravity environment to study quantum... View Mission

Past
Contour Mission Image

CONTOUR's goals were to improve our knowledge of key characteristics of comet nuclei and to... View Mission

Operating
COARL Mission Image

The goal of the COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) is to provide critical data and new... View Mission

Future
Image of satellite with text title COSI in yellow

COSI is a soft gamma-ray survey telescope designed to probe the origins of Galactic positrons,... View Mission

Past
CRRES Mission Image

The Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) was launched into a geosynchronous... View Mission

Future

Expected to launch in 2021, Cusp Plasma Imaging Detector (CUPID) has technology with a wide... View Mission

Future

CubeSat secondary payload that will serve as a “space weather station” to measure particles and... View Mission

Operating
CYGNSS

The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) will make frequent and accurate... View Mission

Operating
Dart mission

NASA's DART mission will be the first ever space mission to demonstrate asteroid deflection by a... View Mission

Future
Artist concept of DAVINCI instrument in orbit
DAVINCI+ will measure the composition of Venus’ atmosphere to understand how it formed and evolved,
Past

Dawn's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch... View Mission

Past

The Deep Impact mission was selected as a Discovery mission in 1999. The spacecraft was... View Mission

Past
Deep Space 1 Mission Image

The primary mission of Deep Space 1 was to test its payload of twelve advanced, high risk... View Mission

Past
DISCOVER-AQ

DISCOVER-AQ mission goals are to improve the interpretation of satellite observations used to... View Mission

Future
Illustration of Dragonfly mission spacecraft

Dragonfly is a rotorcraft lander mission – part of NASA's New Frontiers Program – designed to... View Mission

Operating
DSCOVER NISTAR EPIC mission tile

The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission is a multi-agency (NOAA, United States Air... View Mission

Past
DXS Mission Image

The Diffuse X-ray Spectrometer (DXS) was a single experiment shuttle payload designed to fly on... View Mission

Past
Dynamics Explorer Mission Image

The Dynamics Explorer (DE) mission's general objective was to investigate the strong... View Mission

Past

Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) is an advanced land-imaging mission that will demonstrate new... View Mission

Operating
ECOSTRESS

Future terrestrial biosphere changes are critically dependent on water availability and... View Mission

Operating

ELFIN will explore the mechanisms responsible for the loss of relativistic electrons from the... View Mission

Operating

EMIT will use NASA-invented imaging spectroscopy technology to measure the mineral composition... View Mission

Past
Epoxi Mission Image

Extrasolar Planet Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation EPOXI is a follow-on... View Mission