Goddard Missions

Future Missions

  • Artists rendering of the Astro-H mission.

    Astro-H  →

    Astro-H is a facility-class mission to be launched on a JAXA H-IIA into low Earth orbit.

  • artist concept of a black hole

    Black Hole Imager  →

    A Black Hole Imager (BHI) will directly resolve the event horizons of black holes, and enable direct comparison of matter's behavior in deep gravitational wells to predictions of GR.

  • Artist's rendering of the GEMS mission.

    Gravity and Extreme Magnetism SMEX  →

    GEMS will use X-ray telescopes to explore the shape of space that has been distorted by a spinning black hole's gravity, and probe the structure and effects of the formidable magnetic field around neutron stars, dead stars with magnetic fields trillions of times stronger than Earth's.

  • artist concept of GOES

    GOES Missions  →

    GOES satellites provide a constant vigil for the atmospheric "triggers" for severe weather conditions such as tornadoes, flash floods, hail storms and hurricanes.

  • Graphic illustration inflationary cosmology

    Inflation Probe  →

    Mission concepts are currently in development to probe the epoch of inflation by measuring the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background and detecting primordial gravitational waves.

  • Artist's rendering of the IRIS mission.

    Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph  →

    The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) explorer goal is to understand how the solar atmosphere is energized. The IRIS investigation combines advanced numerical modeling with a high resolution UV imaging spectrograph.

  • Artist concept of IXO spacecraft

    International X-ray Observatory  →

    The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) – a joint effort of NASA, ESA, and JAXA– combines a large X-ray mirror with powerful new instrumentation that will explore the high energy Universe.

  • artist concept of JWST

    James Webb Space Telescope

    The James Webb Space Telescope is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope that is designed to study the earliest galaxies and some of the first stars formed after the Big Bang.

  • A slice through the structure of the universe produced by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

    Joint Dark Energy Mission  →

    The first of the Einstein Probes, the Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM) mission will make precise measurements of the expansion rate of the universe to understand how this rate has changed with time. These measurements will yield vital clues about the nature of dark energy.

  • LDCM logo

    LDCM  →

    The Landsat Data Continuity Mission is the future of Landsat satellites. It will continue to obtain valuable data and Earth imagery to be used in agriculture, education, business, science and government.

  • artist concept of LISA probes

    LISA  →

    As the first dedicated space-based gravitational wave observatory, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna will detect waves generated by binary stars within our galaxy and by massive black holes in distant galaxies.

  • Artists conception of MAVEN orbiting Mars

    Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN

    The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission is part of NASA's Mars Scout program. The mission will explore the Red Planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the sun and solar wind.

  • Artist's rendering of the MMS mission.

    Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission  →

    The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission will use four identical spacecraft, variably spaced in Earth orbit, to make three-dimensional measurements of magnetospheric boundary regions and examine the process of magnetic reconnection.

  • Artists rendering of the NuSTAR mission.

    NuSTAR

    NuSTAR is now in orbit, taking focused images of the high-energy X-ray sky.