Science-enabling Technology

Achieving the Science Mission Directorate’s groundbreaking science goals often requires significant technological innovation—e.g., new instruments or cutting-edge capabilities. Each SMD science division—Astrophysics, Biological and Physical Sciences, Earth Science, Heliophysics, and Planetary Science—develops new technologies targeted to enable SMD science. Often, these efforts are accomplished via division-sponsored technology development or mission programs. The directorate also sponsors collaborative workshops where stakeholders examine how innovative technologies can enable Agency missions. In addition, SMD coordinates with other NASA directorates, government agencies, industry, and academia to ensure its research programs and missions have the technology they need to accomplish revolutionary science.

Technology Highlights

Person in white clean-room coverall, blue gloves, and face mask seated at a workbench using tweezers to place an electrical component into a gold and black assembly.

Very Cold Detectors Reveal the Very Hot Universe and Kick Off a New Era in X-ray Astronomy

X-rays are radiated by matter hotter than one million Kelvin, and high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy can tell us about the composition…

A four-legged square spacecraft perched on a brown and white icy surface. The spacecraft is extending a robot arm deploying a tool above the surface.

Towards Autonomous Surface Missions on Ocean Worlds

Through advanced autonomy testbed programs, NASA is setting the groundwork for one of its top priorities—the search for signs of…

An image of Earth from space showing a hurricane forming over the ocean.

NASA-developed Technology Supports Ocean Wind Speed Measurements from Commercial Satellite

A science antenna developed with support from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) is now in low-Earth orbit aboard MuSat2,…

Accelerating Informatics for Earth Science 2024

Fostering the development of productive partnerships between commercial data product developers and the science community, and exploring innovative ways to improve processing archived and real-time satellite data.

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An image of the earth on the right with white text that reads "Accelerating Informatics for Earth Science 2024. June 13, 2024 Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, VA"

Technology Research Stories

Discover More Topics From NASA

James Webb Space Telescope

The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.

Perseverance Rover

Parker Solar Probe

Juno