NASA has 36 projects you can help with right now

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A NASA logo is displayed at the entrance to the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building on June 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

NASA is allowing everyday citizens to take part in some of the agency's programs, sometimes called "citizen science" or "participatory science" projects.

The projects, 36 in total, allow volunteers and amateurs to help make thousands of important scientific discoveries, such as spotting asteroids to searching for planets beyond our solar system. 

What are the NASA projects?

Dig deeper:

• Lunar Melt – Map molten flows on the Moon using images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
• Snapshot Wisconsin – Track wildlife by classifying trail camera photos from across Wisconsin.
• Ozone Where We Live – Teachers and pilots help measure air quality near California’s San Joaquin Valley.
• Space Cloud Watch – Photograph noctilucent clouds before dawn or after sunset to study the atmosphere.
• Galaxy Zoo – Classify galaxies captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
• X-Snow – Report snow depth in New York’s Catskills and Adirondacks using your phone.
• Open Science Data Repository Analysis Working Groups – Analyze space biology and health data to support astronauts.
• Cloudspotting on Mars: Shapes – Identify cloud formations in images of the Martian atmosphere.
• Exoasteroids – Search telescope images for white dwarfs devouring asteroids.
• Eclipsing Binary Patrol – Examine space data to find rare pairs of stars that eclipse each other.
• Active Asteroids – Spot asteroid belt objects that behave like comets.
• Are We Alone in the Universe? – Analyze radio signals to search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
• Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 – Hunt for new planets and nearby stars beyond Neptune.
• Cloudspotting on Mars – Trace unusual clouds in the Martian atmosphere.
• Burst Chaser – Decode signals from Gamma Ray Bursts, the universe’s biggest explosions.
• Backyard Worlds: Cool Neighbors – Discover brown dwarfs, Jupiter-like gas objects in our cosmic neighborhood.
• Daily Minor Planet – Track asteroids and other small solar system objects.
• Dark Energy Explorers – Investigate dark energy, the mysterious force separating galaxies.
• Disk Detective – Identify dusty disks around stars where planets may form.
• Exoplanet Watch – Help track exoplanets with data from backyard telescopes.
• GLOBE Observer – Contribute to Earth science by recording clouds, land cover, or mosquito habitats.
• International Astronomical Search Collaboration – Teams search for asteroids to help protect Earth.
• JunoCam – Share your own Jupiter images to support the Juno mission.
• Landslide Reporter – Report landslides you see or read about to aid monitoring.
• Redshift Wrangler – Measure galaxy light to study the universe’s expansion.
• Sungrazer Project – Discover new comets orbiting close to the Sun.
• Aurorasaurus – Submit observations of auroras worldwide.
• Chesapeake Water Watch – Collect water-quality data near the Chesapeake Bay.
• Fjord Phyto – Study phytoplankton changes along Antarctica’s western peninsula.
• Fresh Eyes on Ice – Report ice conditions in Alaska to support safety and climate science.
• Growing Beyond Earth – Students test plants for potential use in space missions.
• HamSCI – Amateur radio operators help study Earth’s ionosphere.
• Lake Observations by Citizen Scientists and Satellites – Record water levels at specific lakes with your phone.
• Mountain Rain or Snow – Report mountain precipitation to help climate research.
• Radio JOVE – Build a radio telescope to study Jupiter, the Sun, and cosmic radio sources.
• Spritacular – Share photos of lightning-related upper-atmosphere light phenomena.
• UNITE – Use a Unistellar telescope to observe exoplanets beyond our solar system.

To learn about each project, click here. 

WATCH: NASA launches spacecraft

NASA launched three missions to investigate how the Sun impacts Earth, astronauts, and the solar system. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral around 7:30 AM ET.

What you can do:

If interested, NASA said to send an email to do-nasa-science-join@lists.nasa.gov with "Subscribe" in the subject. Be sure to confirm your subscription.