Launched 2025
Active missionThe Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) are a dual-spacecraft mission to study ion and sputtered escape from Mars. EscaPADE is part of the NASA Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program. Each identical spacecraft, named "Blue" and "Gold", has a dry mass of 209 kg and a fully fueled mass of 535 kg. It launched on Nov. 13, 2025 into a loiter orbit around Earth's Lagrange point 2 and will use Earth's gravity in the fall of 2026 to slingshot toward Mars; NASA's mission page, fetched on 2026-09-02, lists it as an Active Mission.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Mars
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2025
Failed · FailureA NASA smallsat that was to map water on the Moon from polar orbit, lost when contact failed hours after launch.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Moon
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2022
Failed · FailureA NASA CubeSat intended to look for surface ice in permanently shadowed lunar craters, ended early by problems with its thrusters.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Moon
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2022
Completed · SuccessThe uncrewed first flight of NASA's Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, sent around the Moon and back to test the systems for a later crewed launch.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Moon
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
- Flyby
- Technology Demonstrator
Launched 2022
Partial Success · Partial SuccessA CubeSat that flew past the Moon after the Artemis I launch but could not reach the low polar orbit from which it was to map water ice.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Moon
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2022
Failed · FailureA NASA CubeSat launched as an Artemis I secondary payload to investigate lunar ice, but no communication could be established after launch.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Moon
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2022
Active missionA 25 kg spacecraft sent to fly and prove the near-rectilinear halo orbit intended for a future crewed lunar outpost.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Moon
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
- Orbiter
- Technology Demonstrator
Launched 2018
Completed · SuccessInSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is a NASA Discovery mission which landed on Mars in November 2018 and conduct surface observations until December 2022. The surface station carries cameras, X-band transponder, seismic and heat flow instruments designed with the scientific goals of understanding the formation and evolution of terrestrial planets through investigation of the interior structure and processes of Mars and to determine the present level of tectonic activity and meteorite impact rate on Mars. The last transmission was received on 15 December 2022 and the mission was declared over on 21 December 2022.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Mars
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2013
Completed · SuccessThe Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission is designed to explore Mars' upper atmosphere and ionosphere, and interactions with the solar wind, specifically to determine the loss of volatile compounds to space through time and how it has affected the history of Mars' atmosphere and climate. MAVEN is part of NASA's Mars Scout program. NASA's mission page, fetched on 2026-09-02, records that the mission ended after more than 11 years in orbit following an unexpected loss of signal on 6 December 2025, with end of mission declared June 3, 2026.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Mars
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2013
Completed · SuccessA NASA orbiter that studied the Moon's tenuous exosphere and dust environment from low altitude before a planned impact.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Moon
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2011
Active missionThe Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), nicknamed Curiosity, is a large rover with the objective of exploring the martian environment as a former or current habitat for life. The rover is a six wheeled vehicle approximately 2.8 meters in length with a mass of over 750 kg, powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. It landed in Gale Crater on 6 August 2012, a site chosen for its potential as a former or current habitat for life. NASA's mission page, fetched on 2026-09-02, lists it as an Active Mission.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Mars
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2011
Completed · SuccessTwin NASA orbiters that flew in formation to map the Moon's gravitational field in unprecedented detail before impacting the surface together.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Moon
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2009
Completed · SuccessA NASA mission that steered a spent upper stage into a permanently shadowed south polar crater and flew through the plume to look for water.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Moon
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2007
Completed · SuccessPhoenix launched on 04 August 2007 on a Delta II 7925 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and its 681 million km heliocentric cruise to Mars took approximately 10 months. At 1 km altitude the parachute was released and a powered descent and soft-landing was achieved using a pulsed propulsion system with 8 thrusters, which turned off when footpad sensors detected touchdown. The landing site is in the north polar region between 65 and 72 degrees N, a relatively boulder-free area with a high ratio of ice to rock. Communications were maintained through the relays on the orbiting Mars spacecraft Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Express throughout the descent. As the summer ended the mission had less solar energy to operate and made its last transmission on 02 November 2008 before power was depleted.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Mars
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2007
Active missionTwo of the five THEMIS spacecraft, repurposed years after launch and moved into lunar orbit to study the Moon's interaction with the solar wind from two vantage points.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Moon
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2005
Active missionNASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter blasted off from Cape Canaveral in 2005, on a search for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for long periods of time. While other Mars missions have shown that water flowed across the surface in Mars' history, it remains a mystery whether water was ever around long enough to provide a habitat for life. The cruise to Mars took seven months and included checkouts, calibrations, navigation, and five trajectory correction maneuvers; the orbiter reached Mars and went into orbit on 10 March 2006, and aerobraking was used over the next six months to lower the orbit to the 255 x 320 km science orbit. NASA's mission page lists it as an active mission with a mission duration of 2006 - ongoing.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Mars
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2003
Completed · SuccessOpportunity (Mars Exploration Rover B or MER-1) is one of two rovers launched to Mars in mid-2003. The scientific goals of the rover missions are to gather data to help determine if life ever arose on Mars, characterize the climate of Mars, characterize the geology of Mars, and prepare for human exploration of Mars. It came to rest in a 20 m diameter crater at Terra Meridiani, also known as the Hematite Site because it displays evidence of coarse-grained hematite, an iron-rich mineral which typically forms in water. Opportunity explored Meridiani Terra, returning images and data from its scientific instruments, for over 14 years, and the final communication from the rover was received on 10 June 2018.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Mars
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
Launched 2003
Completed · SuccessThe Spirit rover (Mars Exploration Rover A or MER-2) is one of two rovers launched to Mars in mid-2003. The scientific goals of the rover missions are to gather data to help determine if life ever arose on Mars, characterize the climate of Mars, characterize the geology of Mars, and prepare for human exploration of Mars. Spirit landed in Gusev Crater on 4 January 2004 and drove off the platform onto the surface on 15 January. It explored Gusev crater, taking images and making scientific measurements, although it lost the use of one of its six wheels; on 23 April 2009 the rover broke through a thin crust into a pocket of sand that severely limited its mobility, and by 1 May it could no longer move at all. The last transmission from Spirit occurred on 22 March 2010, after the rover had travelled a total of 7.73 km over a period of 6 years, 2 months.
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Destination
- Mars
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable