NASA Planetary Science
NASA’s planetary science program explores the objects in our solar system to better understand its history and the distribution of life within.
Advancing Our Knowledge of Other Worlds
For decades, NASA’s planetary science program has advanced scientific understanding of our solar system in extraordinary ways, pushing the limits of spacecraft and robotic engineering design and operation.
NASA spacecraft have visited every planet and a variety of small bodies, and current and upcoming missions will bring back samples from exciting destinations, allowing detailed study and analysis back on Earth.
Using recommendations from the National Academies'Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032 as our guide, NASA planetary science missions and research inform us about our solar system's origin and evolution, which will enable the expansion of humanity beyond Earth.
Just hours before NASA's Juno mission completed its 53rd close flyby of Jupiter on July 31, 2023, the spacecraft sped past the planet's volcanic moon Io and captured this dramatic view of both bodies in the same frame.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
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Learn More About Artemis II Science
Artemis II science operations will lay the foundation for safe and efficient human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
See the Latest Images of Comet 3I/ATLAS
NASA missions are working together to track and study this rare, interstellar comet as it passes through our solar system.
Follow the Progress of NASA's Dragonfly
This first-of-its-kind rotorcraft to explore another world will fly to various locations on Saturn’s moon Titan and investigate the moon’s habitability.
Watch the First AI-Planned Drive on Mars
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has completed the first drive on another world that was planned by artificial intelligence.
Planetary Science Missions
NASA’s robotic explorers gather data to help scientists understand how the planets formed, what triggered different evolutionary paths among planets, what processes have occurred and are active, and how Earth among the planets became habitable.
In searching for evidence of life beyond Earth, scientists use these data to map zones of habitability, studying the chemistry of unfamiliar worlds, and unveiling the processes that lead to conditions necessary for life. With this knowledge, NASA is enabling safe and effective human missions to destinations beyond low Earth orbit.
NASA's Planetary Science fleet chart, December 2025.
NASA/Tricia Talbert
NASA missions continue to explore from the innermost planet, Mercury, to the outer reaches of the solar system, where Pluto orbits among many Kuiper Belt Objects. We have orbited and traversed the surface of Mars, finding evidence of liquid water and ancient habitable environments.
Closer to home, the Planetary Science Division uses Earth-orbiting telescopes and ground-based sensors in coordination with other organizations, including the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Air Force. These telescopes and sensors are used to survey space to detect, track, catalog, and characterize near-Earth objects (NEOs), which may pose hazards to Earth or provide destinations and resources for future exploration.
NASA’s Perseverance rover puts its robotic arm to work around a rocky outcrop called “Skinner Ridge” in Mars’ Jezero Crater.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
Illustration of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft above Jupiter's ocean moon Europa. The spacecraft will use its powerful suite of science instruments to determine if the moon has the ingredients to support life as we know it – that is, "Is Europa habitable?"
NASA/JPL-Caltech
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is launched from Launch Complex 39A, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will travel to a metal-rich asteroid by the same name orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter to study it’s composition. The spacecraft also carries the agency’s Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration, which will test laser communications beyond the Moon.
NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
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Planetary Defenders
How would humanity respond if we discovered an asteroid headed for Earth? NASA’s "Planetary Defenders" is a gripping documentary that delves into the high-stakes world of asteroid detection and planetary defense.
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