Goddard Missions

Present Missions

  • Artist concept of ACE

    ACE: Advanced Composition Explorer  →

    The Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) is an Explorer mission that studies particles arriving from the Sun, interstellar, and galactic sources to contribute to our understanding of the formation and evolution of the solar system as well as the astrophysical processes involved.

  • artist concept of Adeos II

    Adeos II: SeaWinds  →

    The SeaWinds instruments are designed to acquire accurate, high-resolution, continuous, all-weather measurements of global (land, ice, and ocean) radar cross-section and near-surface vector winds over the ice-free global oceans.

  • artist concept of AIM

    AIM: Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere

    The AIM satellite mission is designed to explore Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs), also called noctilucent clouds, to find out why they form and why they are changing.

  • Artist concept of Aqua

    Aqua  →

    Aqua, Latin for "water," is named for the large amount of information it is designed to collect about Earth's water cycle, including evaporation from the oceans, water vapor in the air, clouds, precipitation, soil moisture, ice, and more.

  • artist concept of Astro E2/Suzaku

    Astro-E2/Suzaku

    Astro-E2/Suzaku is a satellite for studying X-rays emitted by stars, galaxies, and black holes.

  • artist concept of Aura

    Aura

    Aura, Latin for "breeze," is designed to investigate questions about ozone trends, air quality changes and their ties to climate change.

  • artist concept of CALIPSO

    CALIPSO

    The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation mission provides insight into the role that clouds and atmospheric aerosols play in regulating Earth's weather, climate, and air quality. CALIPSO is a joint mission between NASA and CNES, the French space agency.

  • artist concept of CloudSat

    CloudSat

    CloudSat provides observations that advance our understanding of cloud abundance, distribution, structure, and radiative properties.

  • artist concept of Cluster

    Cluster  →

    Cluster, a constellation of four spacecraft flying in formation around Earth, relays the most detailed information ever about how the solar wind affects our planet. This European Space Agency mission has been extended through December 2009.

  • artist concept of EO 1

    EO-1  →

    Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) was the first satellite in NASA's New Millennium Program Earth Observing series. The EO-1 mission developed techniques for space-based Earth observations. It reached its eighth anniversary in orbit in November 2008.

  • artist concept of Fermi

    Fermi Space Telescope

    Formerly known as GLAST, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope gives astronomers a superior tool to study how black holes, notorious for pulling matter in, can accelerate jets of gas outward at fantastic speeds.

  • artist concept of GALEX

    GALEX  →

    The Galaxy Evolution Explorer will observe hundreds of thousands of nearby and distant galaxies in ultraviolet (UV) light. Additionally, GALEX will view the stars in our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

  • artist concept of GOES M

    GOES-M  →

    The GOES I-M satellites are the primary element of U.S. weather monitoring and forecast operations and is a key component of NOAA's National Weather Service operations and modernization program.

  • artist concept of GRACE

    GRACE  →

    The primary goal of the GRACE mission is to accurately map variations in the Earth's gravity field over its 5-year lifetime.

  • artist concept of Hinode

    Hinode/Solar-B  →

    Hinode (formerly Solar-B) studies the interaction between the sun's magnetic field and high-temperature, ionized atmosphere.

  • Hubble Space Telescope

    Hubble Space Telescope

    Goddard is responsible for HST project management, including mission and science operations, servicing missions, and all associated development activities.

  • Artist concept of IBEX

    IBEX

    The IBEX mission will study the global interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium.

  • artist concept of ICESat

    ICESat  →

    Are the ice sheets that still blanket Earth's poles growing or shrinking? ICESat was designed to help answer this question.

  • artist concept of INTEGRAL

    INTEGRAL  →

    ESA's International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory is detecting some of the most energetic radiation that comes from space. INTEGRAL is an ESA mission in cooperation with Russia and the United States.

  • artist concept of Jason

    Jason-1

    Jason-1 is an oceanography mission to monitor global ocean circulation, improve global climate predictions, and monitor events. Dec. 7, 2008, marked the seventh anniversary of Jason-1's launch.

  • LAGEOS 1

    LAGEOS-1  →

    The LAGEOS satellites are designed to provide an orbiting benchmark for geodynamical studies of Earth. LAGEOS-1 was launched by Italy in 1976.

  • LAGEOS 2

    LAGEOS-2  →

    The LAGEOS satellites are designed to provide an orbiting benchmark for geodynamical studies of Earth. LAGEOS-2 was launched in 1992.

  • artist concept of LandSat 7

    LandSat 7  →

    A satellite used to acquire images of the Earth's land surface and surrounding coastal regions.

  • artist concept of MESSENGER

    MESSENGER

    MESSENGER will help us answer key questions about Mercury.

  • artist concept of New Horizons

    New Horizons

    NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will be the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and its moon Charon.

  • artist concept of NOAA N

    NOAA-N

    NOAA-N is the fourth in the series of support dedicated microwave instruments for the generation of temperature, moisture, surface and hydrological products in cloudy regions where visible and infrared (IR) instruments have decreased capability.

  • artist concept of RHESSI

    RHESSI  →

    The primary scientific objective of RHESSI is to study the processes that take place in the solar atmosphere during a flare.

  • artist concept of RXTE

    RXTE  →

    The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) is a satellite that observes the fast-moving, high-energy worlds of black holes, neutron stars, X-ray pulsars and bursts of X-rays that light up the sky and then disappear forever.

  • artist concept of SOHO

    SOHO

    The Solar and Heliophysic Observatory was designed to study the internal structure of the sun, its extensive outer atmosphere and the origin of the solar wind.

  • SORCE

    SORCE  →

    SORCE is a NASA-sponsored satellite mission that is designed to provide state-of-the-art measurements of incoming X-ray, ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, and total solar radiation.

  • artist concept of STEREO probes

    STEREO

    The STEREO mission traces the flow of energy and matter from the sun to Earth with two identically equipped spacecraft to provide revolutionary 3-D imaging of coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

  • artist concept of Swift

    Swift

    The Swift mission is dedicated to the study of gamma-ray bursts.

  • artist concept of Terra

    Terra

    Terra (formerly EOS AM-1) is the flagship satellite of NASA's Earth observing systems. Terra provides global data on land, oceans and the atmosphere, as well as their interactions with solar radiation and with one another.

  • artist concept of THEMIS

    THEMIS

    The THEMIS satellites help scientists answer questions about changes in aurorae, commonly called the Northern Lights or the Southern Lights, depending on their location.

  • artist concept of TIMED

    TIMED  →

    TIMED studies the region of Earth's atmosphere between 60 kilometers and 180 kilometers up. This region, called the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere/Ionosphere (MLTI), is the least understood and explored part of our atmosphere.

  • artist concept of TRACE

    TRACE  →

    The Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) explores the three-dimensional magnetic structures of the sun's photosphere. It also examines both the geometry and dynamics of the upper solar atmosphere, called the transition region and corona.

  • TRMM image

    TRMM  →

    TRMM is particularly devoted to determining rainfall in the tropics and subtropics of the earth. These regions make up about two thirds of the total rainfall on Earth and are responsible for driving our weather and climate system.

  • WIND image

    WIND  →

    Wind was the first of two NASA spacecraft in the Global Geospace Science initiative and part of the ISTP Project. The science objectives of the WIND mission are to provide complete plasma, energetic particle, and magnetic field input for magnetospheric and ionospheric studies.

  • MAP image

    WMAP  →

    The WMAP mission is designed to determine the geometry, content, and evolution of the universe.

  • XMM Newton image

    XMM  →

    The XMM-Newton mission will help scientists solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself.