NASA’s science investments benefit every state and 77% (335) of all congressional districts. In FY 2024 alone, NASA science committed $8.1 billion to recipients around the country.
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This dashboard displays average annual NASA Science Mission Directorate contract obligations by congressional district and state for fiscal years 2022-2024. The data includes research grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements supporting NASA’s science programs including Earth Science, Planetary Science, Astrophysics, and Heliophysics.
Values reflect the average sum of contractual obligations made by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate based on the location of work in the given locale.
About NASA ScienceNASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is the agency’s primary arm for scientific discovery and research, operating a fleet of space-based observatories, planetary probes, and Earth-monitoring satellites that explore everything from our home planet to the distant universe. Think of SMD as NASA’s research division—it’s responsible for missions like the James Webb Space Telescope, the Perseverance Mars rover, and the Hubble Space Telescope, along with dozens of other spacecraft studying climate change, hunting for exoplanets, and investigating the fundamental workings of the cosmos. For any scientific discovery that NASA made in space, it’s almost certain that NASA’s SMD paid for it.
The directorate derives its scientific priorities from “decadal surveys” committees of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that meet every ten years to recommend which missions NASA should pursue. For the past three decades, NASA’s science activities accounted for roughly 1/3 of the agency’s annual expenditures across four major areas: Earth science, planetary science, astrophysics, and heliophysics (the study of the Sun and its effects on the solar system). While NASA’s human spaceflight programs get much of the public attention, SMD quietly conducts the research that expands our understanding of the universe and provides critical data for everything from weather forecasting to planetary defense against asteroid impacts.
The White House’s FY 2026 budget request for NASA proposes to cut NASA’s science program by 47%, which would result in its smallest budget since 1984, when adjusted for inflation.
To learn more, visit The Planetary Society’s Save NASA Science Action Hub.
About The Planetary SocietyThe Planetary Society is an independent, member-supported nonprofit organization that unites a global community of over 2 million space enthusiasts in advancing space science and exploration. Anyone in the world can join as a member.
For any questions, or to request further information, contact Casey Dreier at casey.dreier@planetary.org.