Technical Innovation & Essential Earth Understanding
for a Secure and Thriving Nation
The U.S. depends on the Earth Sciences Division for the scientific and technical innovation that underpins national infrastructure, economic resilience, and security.
From space, air, and ground, we deliver integrated Earth observations, advanced models, and actionable insights to empower safeguarding of lives, property, and systems.
These foundational capabilities also fuel commercial innovation--providing industry with scalable remote sensing technology, reliable data, and AI-enhanced analytics to meet the growing demand for Earth intelligence.
Our Unique Capabilities
Global, Trusted Observations
We develop new remote sensing instruments and technologies to collect precise Earth observations that support foundational research and continuity records.
Calibration & Validation Leadership
We ensure data is rigorously validated, peer-reviewed, and openly available, stimulating opportunity for industry start-ups and commercial space companies.
Data Integration & Advanced Modeling
We integrate observational data with state-of-the-art models and AI technologies to advance Earth system understanding across past, present and future.
Rapid Innovation for Missions
We spark innovation to transform America's Earth observation capabilities, offering testbeds, expertise and tech transfer to bolster the space economy.
American
Leadership
Leading breakthrough remote sensing technology
Accelerating innovation and preserving American space dominance by pioneering next-generation sensors, technologies and data systems; NASA-developed space-based lidar is used by both the public and private sector to map elevation on Mars, the Moon and Earth
Fueling next generation AI computational power
AI-driven financial models are increasingly used to assess weather-related risks in global investment portfolios leveraging NASA's authoritative data
Setting the standard for global positioning
Every person on Earth with a phone relies on our space geodesy technologies, which provide the backbone for accurate global positioning, navigation, and satellite calibration
Powering business with actionable insights
of U.S. Fortune 100 companies rely on NASA Earth Science data to support operations, logistics, and risk management
Strengthening the space economy
The commercial observation market - projected to grow to $8 billion by 2033 - relies on NASA's highly-accurate geodetic and Earth observations for calibration and validation of their assets
Building once and multiplying impact
Beyond Earth, our system modeling development supports human spaceflight through entry, descent and landing assessment
Economic
Benefits
Addressing
National Challenges
Furthering national interests
On-demand, global-scale water cycle data is used for national defense and agriculture to forecast and manage threats associated with extreme weather, flooding, and water scarcity
Developing scientific instruments to enable the government and private sector
Our global nighttime lights product is used by Fortune 100 companies to track economic activity and by logistics companies for safer navigation and disaster response
Advancing disasters research and modeling to support operational application and local response
Cross-Cutting Science
Planetary Atmospheres
We co-develop global atmospheric models - like ROCKE-3D - built for Earth and applied to Venus, Mars, Europa, Titan and exoplanets to explore planetary atmospheres and potential habitable worlds. Goddard's Planetary Spectrum Generator uses Earth-based data to analyze atmospheric measurements from space telescopes, revealing signs of life on distant planets.
Space Weather
Our comprehensive atmospheric models reach from the bottom of the ocean to the edge of space, supporting critical space weather monitoring and research for the nation. Space weather data supports a broad range of operational applications, including satellite security, hypersonic flight, power grid stability, and safe returns for crewed spaceflight.
Multidisciplinary Expertise
Modeling
Our comprehensive approach fuses high-quality, calibrated data from multiple sensors to develop and advance cutting-edge Earth system models. Adaptive virtual replicas of Earth systems offer scenario testing for a wide variety of uses, including strengthening U.S. resilience for disasters and resource impacts.
Atmosphere
We advance knowledge of the Earth's atmosphere, including cloud and precipitation systems, Planetary Boundary Layer thermodynamics and air quality, ozone layer, and atmospheric radiation. Both the public and private sector rely on our technology and advanced analysis to unlock new understanding of these complex systems.
Land & Water
We explore to understand Earth's water cycle, polar regions, land and ocean ecology, and geophysical phenomena. Our Earth system and purpose-built models deliver actionable information to support resource management, agriculture, ecosystem health assessment, and natural disaster mitigation.
Data
Our catalog of trusted Earth observation data is a national asset that keeps America at the forefront of intelligence, including real-time data to support emergency response and national defense. Our accessible data stimulates the commercial Earth observation market, powers emerging AI methodologies and accelerates industry applications.
Highlights
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