Science Mission Directorate

The Science Mission Directorate (SMD) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is one of the six directorates that constitute NASA. It operates across several key NASA Centers, with significant leadership and management at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., coordinating activities at centers like Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in California, guiding research in Earth Science, Heliophysics, Planetary Science, and Astrophysics. == Objectives == Its responsibility is to define and direct research into scientific questions of interest, sharing data acquired by NASA missions with the broader scientific community, sponsoring scientific research, and developing satellites and spacecraft in conjunction with other directorates and with partner organizations for scientific missions.

Source: Wikipedia — Science Mission Directorate (CC BY-SA 4.0)