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Exoplanets Blog - NASA Science
Exoplanets Blog - NASA Science

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Why Do We Send Robots To Space? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids
Why Do We Send Robots To Space? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids

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Why Do We Send Robots To Space?

The Curiosity rover takes a self-portrait on a Martian sand dune. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
We can send robots to explore space without having to worry so much about their safety. Of course, we want these carefully built robots to last. We need them to stick around long enough to investigate and send us information about their destinations. But even if a robotic mission fails, the humans involved with the mission stay safe.
Sending a robot to space is also much cheaper than sending a human. Robots don’t need to eat or sleep or go to the bathroom. They can survive in space for many years and can be left out there—no need for a return trip!
Plus, robots can do lots of things that humans can’t. Some can withstand harsh conditions, like extreme temperatures or high levels of radiation. Robots can also be built to do things that would be too risky or impossible for astronauts.

What are some of the robots NASA is currently developing?
You’ve probably heard of some of NASA’s robots: the Mars rovers, like Perseverance and Curiosity. But those are just a few of the most famous robots. NASA engineers are working on new robots all the time.

NASA has been investigating Mars with rovers since the Pathfinder mission landed in 1997 and deployed a small rover called Sojourner. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
One of the latest robots is nicknamed A-PUFFER, short for Autonomous Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot. The inspiration for this lightweight, two-wheeled adventurer came from origami designs. The robot can flatten itself out and duck down to investigate tight spots.

Watch this video to see Puffer in action! Video credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Then there’s BRUIE, the Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration.
Glossary - NASA Science
They are the most common type of star, comprising about 75 percent of all stars in the galaxy.Light-year:The distance light travels in one year, about 5.88 trillion miles (about 9.5 trillion kilometers).AU:An astronomical unit – the distance between Earth and the Sun, or about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).Super-Earth:One of the most common types of exoplanets discovered so far, with a mass between that of Earth and Neptune. The properties of such planets are largely unknown.Orbit:The curving, repeating path of an object, such as a satellite, moon or planet, around a space body such as a moon, planet or star.Infrared:Electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths longer than the red end of the visible light spectrum, but shorter than microwaves.Transit:When an exoplanet crosses the face of its star from the perspective of Earthbound observers. The change in brightness of the star due to the exoplanet can be measured and used to calculate the diameter of the exoplanet.James Webb Space Telescope:This NASA space telescope, which launched in 2021, is a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror. It is the most powerful and complex space science telescope ever built. It is sometimes called JWST or Webb.Spitzer Space Telescope:A NASA space telescope launched in August 2003 and retired in January 2020. Spitzer observed infrared (heat) radiation from exoplanets, stars, stellar nurseries, the centers of galaxies and the early stages of planetary system formation.Light curve:Graphical representation of changes in the brightness of space objects over time, including those of variable stars, supernovae and transiting exoplanets that sometimes pass in front of their stars.Hot Jupiter:A giant, gas planet in extremely close orbit around its star. Some complete a single orbit—their “year”—in as little as a few Earth days.Water World:Hypothesized extrasolar planets with surfaces completely covered by deep oceans of water.Radial Velocity:The amount of “wobble” induced in a star by the gravity of an orbiting planet, or planets.
Astromaterials - NASA Science
Our people are the world's leading sample scientists and we curate the most extensive collection of extraterrestrial materials on Earth. Learn More about ARESInside world-class laboratories, scientists perform research on planetary materials and the space environment to investigate the origin and evolution of our Solar System, the universe, and the possibilities of how life might form on other planets.Researchers participate in robotic planetary missions, support human spaceflight activities on board the International Space Station, and assist in the design of next-generation exploration spacecraft.Scientists in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center study samples retrieved by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Hayabusa2 spacecraft and returned to Earth in late 2020. JAXA shared a portion of the samples with NASA, and in exchange, NASA will provide JAXA a percentage of a sample of asteroid Bennu, when the agency’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returns to Earth from the space rock in 2023. Photo Date: November 30, 2021. Location: Bldg. 31, H2 Clean Room.
New NASA Earth System Observatory to Help Address, Mitigate Climate Change - NASA
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Spaceships and Rockets - NASA
A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus resupply spacecraft is seen on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A, Thursday, October 1, 2020, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.NASA/Patrick Black 

More Rockets

Explore additional uncrewed rockets delivering spacecraft that observe Earth, visit other planets and explore the universe.

	Explore More Rockets 	

A wet dress rehearsal is underway for Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket at Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand on April 28, 2023.Rocket Lab 

Spaceships and Rockets

What is a spacecraft?

A spacecraft is a vehicle that flies in space. It can carry astronauts, cargo, or instruments to their destination, or it can be the destination. The International Space Station is a spacecraft, just like the smaller vehicles that deliver crew and cargo to it. 

Spacecraft launch on rockets and have their own propulsion and navigation systems that take over after they separate from the rocket, propelling them to other worlds in our solar system. Their main purpose lies in transporting payloads — or anything within the vehicle beyond what is essential to operate in space — to their destination. For example, for the Artemis II Moon mission, a human crew and other experiments will be carried aboard the Orion spacecraft.

 Explore Types of Spacecraft about What is a spacecraft? 

A camera mounted on one of Orion’s four solar arrays captured this image of the Moon on flight day 17 of the 25.5-day Artemis I mission from a distance of more than 222,000 miles. NASA 

Orion Spacecraft
NASA’s Orion spacecraft is built to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before. On Artemis missions, Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion will launch on NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System.

	Learn More About Orion about Orion Spacecraft

	Commercial Cargo Spacecraft	

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Commercial Cargo Spacecraft

These spacecraft are carrying cargo and scientific investigations to and from the space station.
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TechnologyMission and ImpactExplore TechnologyTechnology Transfer and SpinoffsSpace TravelLiving in SpaceManufacturing and MaterialsRoboticsScience InstrumentsComputingSpace CommunicationsNewsGallery

Technology Drives Exploration
NASA technology development supports the nation’s innovation economy by creating solutions for space exploration that also generate tangible benefits for life on Earth. NASA is investing in the future of innovation.

National Space Technology Priorities
STMD is refining its strategy for prioritizing technology investments, with the goal of evolving into a stronger and more resilient national tech base for civil space. 

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NASA’s Next-Generation Solar Sail Mission 
NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System could advance future space travel and expand our understanding of our Sun and Solar System.

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NASA’s TESS Finds Intriguing World Sized Between Earth, Venus - NASA Science
Skip to main content Missions Search All NASA MissionsA to Z List of MissionsUpcoming Launches and LandingsSpaceships and RocketsCommunicating with MissionsArtemisJames Webb Space TelescopeHubble Space TelescopeInternational Space StationOSIRIS-RExHumans in Space Why Go to SpaceAstronautsCommercial SpaceDestinationsSpaceships and RocketsLiving in SpaceEarth &amp; Climate Explore Earth ScienceClimate ChangeEarth, Our PlanetEarth Science in ActionEarth MultimediaEarth DataEarth Science ResearchersAbout NASA NASA's ImpactsCenters and FacilitiesDirectoratesOrganizationsPeople of NASACareersInternshipsOur HistoryDoing Business with NASAGet InvolvedContactLearning Resources For Kids and StudentsFor EducatorsFor Colleges and UniversitiesFor ProfessionalsScience for EveryoneSpace Samples for LearningRequest an Exhibit or SpeakerSTEM Engagement at NASAAeronautics Science in the AirNASA AircraftFlight InnovationSupersonic FlightAir Traffic SolutionsGreen Aviation TechDrones & YouTechnology Technology Transfer & SpinoffsSpace Travel TechnologyTechnology Living in SpaceManufacturing and MaterialsRoboticsScience InstrumentsComputingThe Universe ExoplanetsThe Search for Life in the UniverseStarsGalaxiesBlack HolesThe Big BangDark Matter &amp; Dark EnergyThe Solar System The SunMercuryVenusEarthThe MoonMarsJupiterSaturnUranusNeptunePluto &amp; Dwarf PlanetsAsteroids, Comets &amp; MeteorsThe Kuiper BeltThe Oort CloudSkywatchingEspañol CienciaAeronáuticaCiencias TerrestresSistema SolarUniversoScience All NASA ScienceEarth SciencePlanetary ScienceAstrophysics & Space ScienceThe Sun & HeliophysicsBiological & Physical SciencesLunar ScienceCitizen ScienceAstromaterialsAeronautics ResearchHuman Space Travel ResearchExploreSearchSubmitNews & EventsMultimediaNASA+5 min readNASA’s TESS Finds Intriguing World Sized Between Earth, VenusFrancis ReddyMay 23, 2024ArticleUsing observations by NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and many other facilities, two international teams of astronomers have discovered a planet between the sizes of Earth and Venus only 40 light-years away.
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Can We Find Life? - NASA Science
But we’re looking.The big question – Is there life beyond Earth? – comes with an ironic asterisk: we don't really have a universally accepted definition of life itself. That said, we might not need one. We need only detect the telltale signs of life in an exoplanet atmosphere, and we have a better understanding of what those look like here on Earth.An artist's concept of what Kepler-1649c could look like from its surface.NASA/Ames Research Center/Daniel RutterWill we know life when we see it?The James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021, could get the first glimpses: the mix of gases in the atmospheres of Earth-sized exoplanets. Webb, or a similar spacecraft in the future, could pick up signs of an atmosphere like our own – oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane. A strong indication of possible life. Future telescopes might even pick up signs of photosynthesis – the transformation of light into chemical energy by plants – or even gases or molecules suggesting the presence of animal life. Intelligent, technological life might create atmospheric pollution, as it does on our planet, also detectable from afar. Of course, the best we might be able to manage is an estimate of probability. Still, an exoplanet with, say, a 95 percent probability of life would be a game changer of historic proportions.Artist's rendering of the James Webb Space Telescope.NASAHow will we find life?Life might turn up in our own neighborhood: beneath the Martian surface, perhaps, or in the dark, subsurface oceans of Jupiter's moon, Europa. Or maybe the dream of the ages will come true, and we'll eavesdrop on the communications of extraterrestrial civilizations. We might even capture evidence of "technosignatures," or traces of technology (think smog). Barring these strokes of luck, however, the job will be much harder. Light will be the key – light from the atmospheres of exoplanets, split up into a rainbow spectrum that we can read like a bar code.
Earth - NASA Science
Our Mission.And the one planet that NASA studies more than any other.NASA studies our own planet more than any other. We operate 26 missions in orbit and sponsor hundreds of research programs and studies each year. We observe our planet’s oceans, land, ice, and atmosphere, and measure how a change in one drives change in others. We develop new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected systems and we build long-term data records of how our planet evolves. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world.All MissionsPACEactive MissionPACE will help us better understand our ocean and atmosphere by measuring key variables associated with cloud formation, particles and pollutants in the air, and microscopic, floating marine life (phytoplankton).…Learn MoreRecent News and ArticlesMore News and Articles5 min readHow ‘Glowing’ Plants Could Help Scientists Predict Flash DroughtArticle2 weeks agoNew Proposals to Help NASA Advance Knowledge of Our Changing ClimateRead More6 min readInternational SWOT Mission Can Improve Flood PredictionArticle3 weeks ago5 min readNASA Is Helping Protect Tigers, Jaguars, and Elephants. Here’s How.Article3 weeks agoEarth Observatory25 Years, 25 StoriesOver the past two and a half decades, EO has published more than 18,000 image-driven stories. This video highlights some of our favorites.Learn MoreOver the past two and a half decades, EO has published more than 18,000 image-driven stories. This video highlights some of our favorites. View the full story
Greenhouse GasesNASA has several instruments and tools for measuring and modeling greenhouse gases – where they come from, where they go, and how they are driving climate change.
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