Projects in the Cloud The Science Cloud supports over 160 projects across NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. By working with industry partners like Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft’s Azure, the Science Cloud drives research advancement while cutting costs and providing flexibility for NASA researchers.Currently, the Science Cloud hosts cloud infrastructure for the following NASA-funded projects: Community Coordinated Modeling CenterThe Science Cloud supports NASA's Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), which develops space weather models critical for spaceflight planning (including NASA’s exploration of Mars), electrical grid management, and radio communications.The Science Cloud Reduces Costs: Purchase of reserved AWS instances save CCMC up to $40,000 annually, while elastic computing allows flexible resource scaling.The Science Cloud Promotes Faster Science: The FISMA-low environment streamlines cloud access and lets scientists directly onboard models instead of relying on developers who may be unfamiliar with model dependencies, significantly reducing time to deployment for space weather models that affect industry, public safety, and global infrastructure. FornaxDeveloped with the Science Cloud, Fornax is an open-source platform providing global access to NASA's astrophysics archives for students, citizen scientists, and researchers alike.The Science Cloud Enables Browser-Based Science: Users access petabytes of astrophysics data, analysis tools, Jupyter notebooks, and tutorials directly in the cloud—eliminating local data management and enabling research from anywhere.The Science Cloud Enables Global Innovation: Institutions can clone and deploy Fornax in their own AWS environments using shared infrastructure code, allowing astrophysicists to focus on discovery rather than technical setup. HelioCloudPowered by the Science Cloud, HelioCloud is an open-source software stack providing global browser-based access to high-volume heliophysics datasets and the compute resources to analyze these datasets for researchers, students, and citizen scientists.The Science Cloud Provides Cost-Effective Storage: The AWS Open Data Registry partnership enables storage of up to 1.5 petabytes without storage or egress fees, allowing budget reinvestment into expanded researcher services.The Science Cloud Enables Flexible Deployment: Institutions can use HelioCloud as-is or deploy it locally, eliminating custom development needs and lowering barriers to collaboration and innovation. Image BioSCapeThe Science Cloud powers BioSCape, a NASA-supported South African research project studying biodiversity in the Greater Cape Floristic Region, one of the world's 36 biodiversity hotspots.The Science Cloud Enables the "JupyterHub in a Box" Infrastructure: NASA and AWS developed a complete research environment that can be cloned and deployed globally, enabling South African researchers, students, and land managers to access over 150 petabytes of NASA data without downloading terabytes across oceans.The Science Cloud Makes a Global Scientific Impact: The Science Cloud's FISMA-low infrastructure enables international collaboration and democratizes access to cutting-edge science resources beyond traditional NASA boundaries. XINAThe Science Cloud provides infrastructure for XINA, an end-to-end instrument data pipeline supporting NASA Mars exploration missions including Curiosity, MOMA, and MAVEN.The Science Cloud Promotes Mission Data Collaboration: XINA enables NASA researchers and international partners to access, analyze, and collaborate on mission data through metadata search, visualization tools, and collaborative notes and tagging features.The Science Cloud Provides Scalable Resources: The Science Cloud's FISMA-low environment provides the necessary security level for international space agency collaboration while maintaining low costs and scalability as mission data analysis needs grow. Science Cloud News PUBLISHED Sep 25, 2025 NASA Science Cloud Leverages Cloud Computing for Accelerated Discovery A new cloud computing platform for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is helping NASA-affiliated scientists speed up their research timelines with cutting-edge technology. GET STARTEDAre You a NASA Researcher or Team Interested in the Science Cloud?The Science Cloud is available for use now by NASA-affiliated teams working on Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) Low projects, with a FISMA Moderate capability coming by early 2026.Contact Us Image
PUBLISHED Sep 25, 2025 NASA Science Cloud Leverages Cloud Computing for Accelerated Discovery A new cloud computing platform for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is helping NASA-affiliated scientists speed up their research timelines with cutting-edge technology.