Current flagship missions at a glance
NASA's flagship science missions are large, high-priority projects that address major questions in planetary science, astrophysics, heliophysics, and Earth science. They typically involve substantial budgets, long development timelines, and international partnerships.
Examples commonly in NASA's flagship portfolio include:
- Space telescopes that probe the universe across wavelengths.
- Large planetary orbiters and rovers exploring Mars, outer planets, and icy moons.
- Earth-observing satellites monitoring climate, weather, and ecosystems.
Why these missions stand out
- They pursue transformative science goals, like finding habitable worlds, studying the early universe, or tracking global change.
- They often require cutting-edge instruments and long missions to gather comprehensive datasets.
- Flagships drive technology and workforce development and enable many secondary investigations and data analyses by the global science community.
Flagship priorities can shift with new decadal survey recommendations, budget realities, and emerging scientific opportunities, but they remain central to NASA's strategy for high-impact exploration and discovery.