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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.

50 Years on the Surface of Mars

  • Viking 1, July 20, 1976

    Fifty years ago, NASA's Viking 1 successfully landed on Mars and sent back to Earth the first photograph from the surface of another planet. Learn more about the Viking 1 and 2 landers and orbiters, watch archival videos from the mission, and download a poster and digital wallpaper featuring special anniversary key art at the Viking anniversary web hub.

    Explore the Viking Anniversary online

    A commemorative NASA poster featuring an artist's concept of the Viking lander resting on a rocky Martian landscape. A bright sun sets directly behind the lander, casting a brilliant backlight against a vibrant orange sky that slowly fades into a starry backdrop at the top. A faint, thin white outline of a massive number "50" frames the lander in the background sky. Scattered in the sky and silhouetted along the horizon are various other Mars exploration vehicles from the past 50 years, including three small helicopters overhead, representing the future SkyFall mission, the InSight lander in the far background, the Perseverance rover at right, and the Spirit and Opportunity rovers at left. The NASA logo is in the top right corner. At the bottom left, large white text reads "VIKING," followed by a smaller subheadline: "The lander that broke ground on 50 years of Mars surface exploration."
    Throughout history, Mars had been in sight, but never within reach — until July 20, 1976, when NASA’s Viking 1 lander touched down safely and began transmitting the first images from the surface of the Red Planet.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech

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.

Jupiter is in the upper right corner with moon Io to the bottom left.
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

check it out

Stylized illustration of an imagined landscape with world landmarks in the background. In the foreground silhouettes of people looking up at a large Moon in the night sky, with the text International Observe the Moon Night September 19, 2026. In the sky appears "Observe the Moon" translated in different languages.

International Observe the Moon Night

Register now and join NASA and people around the world on Sept. 19 as they share Moon watching events.

Screenshot with overlaid interface tools and labels for viewing the the Moon.

Discover NASA's Daily Moon Guide

This interactive map shows what the Moon will look like on your special day, or any day of the year.

Simulation of the Solar System showing the Inner planet orbits around the Sun.

Eyes on the Solar System

Interact with 3D data visualizations of spacecraft past, present, and future

Mars’ Grand Canyon, Valles Marineris, visualized by Mars Trek using data from the THEMIS instrument on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft and the MOLA laser altimeter aboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft.

Solar System Treks

Explore other worlds with 3D flyovers, data collection using browser-based interactive portals.

This illustration, updated in April 2022, depicts NASA's Psyche spacecraft. Set to launch in August 2022, the Psyche mission will explore a metal-rich asteroid of the same name.

Get Psyched for Psyche

See the unique artwork created by undergrads inspired by NASA's Psyche mission to a metal-rich asteroid and learn how to get involved.

Artist's concept of NASA's Dragonfly on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan.

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.

The Orion orbiter, with 4 solar fins spread out, flies above the nearby Moon, while Earth can be seen behind the Moon.

Learn More About Artemis II Science

Artemis II science operations laid the foundation for safe and efficient human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

NASA’s Perseverance used its navigation cameras to capture its two-hour 30-minute drive along Jezero Crater’s rim on Dec. 10, 2025. The navcam images were combined with rover data and placed into a 3D virtual environment, resulting in this reconstruction with virtual frames inserted about every 4 inches (0.1 meters) of drive progress.

Watch the First AI-Planned Drive on Mars

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover completed the first drive on another world that was planned by artificial intelligence. 

A chart with the X axis labeled RA Offset and the Y axis labeled Decl. Offset. There is a blue diamond and on the middle height, to the left there is a red and yellow dot.

See Images of Comet 3I/ATLAS

NASA missions worked together to track and study this rare, interstellar comet as it passed through our solar system.

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.

Graphic representation of planetary science spacecraft in a blue, circular swirl set against the backdrop of space.
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.

Read More About NASA's Science Missions
A robotic arm laden with science instruments extends toward a rocky outcrop on Mars.
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
An illustration shows a spacecraft in silhouette above an icy moon's surface with reddish fractures. Beyond the moon's horizon, the planet Jupiter sits in the distance.
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
Falcon heavy rocket carrying Psyche spacecraft emits fire and smoke as it lifts off
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
Featured Video

Eye on Dragonfly

NASA and Johns Hopkins APL give viewers an inside look at NASA's Dragonfly mission as it reaches another exciting milestone on the path to Saturn's moon Titan. Hear directly from Dragonfly scientists and engineers as they discuss the spacecraft's latest progress through integration and testing, explain how Dragonfly will explore Titan, and answer audience questions about the mission.

Watch here

Planetary Science News

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Article
5 Min Read

Establishing Crew Exposure Limits of Martian Dust

Blog
6 Min Read

NASA’s Psyche Mission Delivers Mars Flyby Data, Time-lapse Video 

Article
5 Min Read

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Reads Record of Ancient Mars Impacts

Blog
5 Min Read

Utah Helicopter Flights Test NASA’s DAVINCI Mission to Venus

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