Research Facilities for Planetary Science

A variety of facilities are available to supported investigators conducting planetary science research. The listed facilities are now, or have been in the past, supported by the Planetary Science Division (PSD) following peer review. Information on each facility including types of access, fee structures, and points of contact, are available in the quad charts below. We encourage researchers to reach out to the facility points of contact directly for additional information on how to use the facility or include it in an upcoming proposal submission.

Planetary Science Enabling Facilities

The facilities below were selected through the C.17 Planetary Science Enabling Facilities ROSES program element following peer review. These facilities are funded through the PSD Research and Analysis Program budget.

This image shows the Ames Vertical Gun Range, which is a unique NASA Facility that is used to simulate high-speed, celestial body impacts on a small scale. It shows an overhead view of the range.

AVGR

Colorado Dust Accelerator

This image shows an upstream view of the 13 IDE microprobe setup showing the 7-element silicon drift detector/x-ray fluorescence detector, sample stages and mount, optical microscope, KB-Mirror focusing enclosure, and ion chamber and filter box.

GSECARS

ICEE

This image shows the various instruments available at the Kuiper Imaging Facility as a function of scale from the macroscopic scale to the atomic scale. Descriptions of the analyses that can be done at the varying scales as well as potential sample types are shown.

K-ALFAA

KEVION

This image shows the benchtop scanning electron microscope (SEM) (a Phenom XL from Nanoscience instruments) at the Lunar and Planetary Institute as well as two computers displaying SEM data on a sample.

LPI SEM

This image shows the various instruments available at the NASA Facility for Astromaterials Research at Johnson Space Center. It shows five hexagons, each discussing the analyses that can be conducted and the instrumentation available for those analyses.

NFAR

This image shows the Mars Wind Tunnel (MARSWIT) located in the Planetary Aeolian Laboratory.

PAL

This image shows the three floors of a conceptual configuration of the Planetary Cloud/Aerosol Research Facility.

PCARF

PRECISE

This image shows a close-up of the custom bi-directional spectrometer showing the exiting path for light reflecting off of a sample surface.

RELAB

This image shows an example of the high-resolution X-ray computed tomography data that can be acquired at the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility.

UTCT

WiscSIMS

Additional Facilities Supported by the Research and Analysis Program

The facilities below are now, or have been in the past, supported by the Planetary Science Division following peer review. These facilities are, or were, funded through the PSD Research and Analysis Program budget.

This image shows various microscopes available for use at the Advanced Electron Microscopy Center. An individual is utilizing one of the microscopes in the foreground and data from another instrument is portrayed on various computer screens in the background.

AEMC

CHILI

Controlled Environment Chamber

This image shows a close-up of the TESCAN LYRA3 Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope/Focused Ion Beam (FESEM-FIB) at the University of Chicago FESEM-FIB facility.

FESEM-FIB Chicago

Picture of the outdoor Gamma ray Neutron Test Facility (GNTF) showing 2 experimental domes and the control building.

GNTF - GSFC/GGAO

This image shows the Cameca ims 1280 equipped with a Hyperion II ion source and SCAPS detector available at the University of Hawai’i. Two individuals are pictured utilizing the instrument.

IMS - Hawaii

This image shows the Neaspec neaSNOM near-field infrared imaging and spectroscopy system at the Stony Brook Nano-IR Imaging and Spectroscopy Facility.

NanoIR - Stony Brook

This image shows the Planetary Asteroid Regolith Spectroscopy Environmental Chamber (PARSEC) attached to a Thermo Nicolet 6700 FTIR spectrometer.

PARSEC - Stony Brook

PRISM

This image shows an example of data that can be collected by the Tender-Energy X-Ray Microprobe for Analysis of Extraterrestrial Materials. There is a 40 micron scale bar in the upper right to indicate the size of the material being analyzed. Phosphorus is shown in red, sulfur is shown in green, and silicon is shown in blue.

TES - Beamline

Additional Facilities Supported by Programs within PSD

The facilities below are funded by other program budgets within PSD but are available to Planetary Science Researchers.

GEER

VICI

Additional NASA and NASA-Partner Facilities

The facilities below are either NASA or NASA-Partner facilities that are also available to Planetary Science Researchers. Information for utilizing these facilities can be found on their respective websites.

NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF)

Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR)

NASA time on the W. M. Keck Observatory

Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope

SSERVI Regolith Testbed

If you have a facility that is now, or has been in the past, supported by the Planetary Science Division following peer review and is available for external collaborations, please complete the template quad chart available for download below and email it, along with a thumbnail sized image for inclusion on this website, to HQ-PSEF@mail.nasa.gov

Template for Quad Chart

Frequently Asked Questions about facility and instrument funding

For more information write to HQ-PSEF@mail.nasa.gov

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