Technology Highlights

Biological & Physical Sciences
Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL)
GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on)
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
Future space missions could use quantum technologies to help us understand the physical laws that govern the universe, explore the composition of other planets and their moons, gain insights into unexplained cosmological phenomena, or monitor ice sheet thickness and the amount of water in underground aquafers on Earth.
Posted May 6, 2025
Earth Science
Earth Science Division
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
NASA sponsored Entrepreneurs Challenge events in 2020, 2021, and 2023 to invite small business start-ups to showcase innovative ideas and technologies with the potential to advance the agency’s science goals.
Posted April 22, 2025
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
Astrophysics observations at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths often probe the most dynamic aspects of the universe. However, the high energy of ultraviolet photons means that their interaction with the materials that make up an observing instrument are less efficient, resulting in low overall throughput.
Posted March 18, 2025
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
One of the ultimate goals in astrophysics is the discovery of Earth-like planets that are capable of hosting life. While thousands of planets have been discovered around other stars, the vast majority of these detections have been made via indirect methods, that is, by detecting the effect of the planet on the star’s light, rather […]
Posted February 18, 2025
Earth Science
Oceanography
Science-enabling Technology
SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography)
Technology Highlights
Rivers and streams wrap around Earth in complex networks millions of miles long, driving trade, nurturing ecosystems, and stocking critical reserves of freshwater. But the hydrologists who dedicate their professional lives to studying this immense web of waterways do so with a relatively limited set of tools.
Posted February 4, 2025
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
NASA sponsored Entrepreneurs Challenge events in 2020, 2021, and 2023 to identify innovative ideas and technologies from small business start-ups with the potential to advance the agency’s science goals.
Posted January 7, 2025
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Goddard Space Flight Center
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
The Universe
XRISM (X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission)
X-rays are radiated by matter hotter than one million Kelvin, and high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy can tell us about the composition of the matter and how fast and in what direction it is moving. Quantum calorimeters are opening this new window on the Universe.
Posted December 17, 2024
Ocean Worlds
Planetary Science
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
Uncategorized
Through advanced autonomy testbed programs, NASA is setting the groundwork for one of its top priorities—the search for signs of life and potentially habitable bodies in our solar system and beyond. The prime destinations for such exploration are bodies containing liquid water, such as Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
Posted December 3, 2024
CYGNSS (Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System)
Earth Science
Earth Science Division
Earth Science Technology Office
Oceans
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
A science antenna developed with support from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) is now in low-Earth orbit aboard MuSat2, a commercial remote-sensing satellite flown by the aerospace company Muon Space. The dual-frequency science antenna was originally developed as part of the Next Generation GNSS Bistatic Radar Instrument (NGRx).
Posted November 12, 2024
Earth Science
Earth Science Technology Office
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
Summer heat has significant effects in the mountainous regions of the western United States. Melted snow washes from snowy peaks into the rivers, reservoirs, and streams that supply millions of Americans with freshwater—as much as 75% of the annual freshwater supply for some states.
Posted October 29, 2024
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