The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Friday announced that it is set to launch its first on-demand streaming service, NASA+, later this year.
NASA+, which is aimed at space enthusiasts from around the world, will be an ad-free, subscription-free, and family-friendly streaming service.
It will feature not just NASA’s live coverage found on the NASA Live website but also broadcast collections of original video series about NASA’s space missions, along with new content launching with the streaming service.
“Our vision is to inspire humanity through a unified, world-class NASA web experience,” says Jeff Seaton, Chief Information Officer at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.
“NASA’s legacy footprint presents an opportunity to dramatically improve the user experience for the public we serve. Modernizing our main websites from a technology standpoint and streamlining how the public engages with our content online are critical first steps in making our agency’s information more accessible, discoverable, and secure.”
NASA+ will be available on all the major platforms, including Android, iOS, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV, as well as on the web across desktop and mobile devices.
“We’re putting space on demand and at your fingertips with NASA’s new streaming platform,” Marc Etkind, Associate Administrator, Office of Communications, NASA Headquarters, said in a press release.
“Transforming our digital presence will help us better tell the stories of how NASA explores the unknown in air and space, inspires through discovery, and innovates for the benefit of humanity,” he added.
Besides the streaming service, NASA also showcased the beta version of its new website, which will serve as an ever-expanding yet consolidated homebase for information about the agency’s missions and research, climate data, Artemis updates, and more.
Early access, in-progress preview of the beta website is available to users right now. Users are encouraged to visit and submit feedback to make the website look much better and more usable before it is launched to the public.
According to NASA, the updated nasa.gov and science.nasa.gov websites will provide a connected, topic-driven experience, with a common search engine, integrated navigation, and optimized publishing capabilities in a modernized and secure set of web tools.
The beta version of the NASA website will continue to be updated and improved on a rolling basis as it will continue to receive feedback from visitors. Once fully launched, the U.S. space agency will connect more of its websites and media libraries in the future to this new experience to continually streamline all the information shared across its centers, missions, and programs.
“From exoplanet research to better understanding Earth’s climate and the influence of the Sun on our planet along with exploration of the solar system, our new science and flagship websites, as well as forthcoming NASA+ videos, showcases our discovery programs in an interdisciplinary and crosscutting way, ultimately building stronger connections with our visitors and viewers,” said Nicky Fox, Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters.