A cell phone, a computer, and your curiosity are everything you need to be a NASA citizen scientist and contribute to the Earth, the solar system and beyond.

Science is built with small sand and you can contribute your own contribution from any corner of the world.

All you need is a cell phone or a computer with an internet connection to start your scientific adventure. Can you imagine making groundbreaking discoveries in the universe? Want to help solve problems that can improve life on our planet? Or do you dream of helping solve the ancient mysteries of the universe? All of this is possible through NASA's Citizen Science Program.

NASA defines citizen science as a “scientific project that relies on volunteers” and citizen science as a “volunteer.”

For decades, volunteers have supported NASA researchers in different fields and in various ways, depending on the project. They help by making measurements, sorting data from NASA tasks, and deepening our understanding of the universe and our family planet. Everything is important.

“This is your science: it’s collaborative,” Kuchner leads more than 30 citizen science projects offered by NASA. “I connect the public with scientists to accomplish more NASA science.”

Citizen scientists can come from anywhere in the world - they don't have to be U.S. citizens or residents. Volunteers help NASA find planets in other solar systems, called exoplanets; sort clouds in Earth's sky; observe solar eclipses; or detect comets and asteroids. Some of these space rocks are even named after the volunteers who helped find them.

Mass participation is key to initiatives that require as many people as possible. “Without the help of a big team, there are some scientific projects you won’t be able to do,” Kuhner said. For example, he needs projects from a large dataset of the space telescope (or a project that is “physically large and you need people who look at it from a different perspective,” he said.

An example is Aurorasaurus, which invites people to observe and categorize Auroras. "We tried to study them with satellites, but it really helped that people on the ground took photos at different times," he explained.

“Part of the way we serve our nation and humanity is to share beautiful pictures of our satellites and share the entire experience of doing science,” Kuhna said.

More than 3 million people participated in the program. Kuchner believes this shows that people want to be part of what he calls the "roller coaster" of science. “They want to have an adventure with us and we’re so glad to have them.”

"You can help scientists now at NASA and other organizations around the world discover interesting things," said Faber Burgos, a citizen scientist and science communicator in Colombia. "To be honest, I always dreamed of making history."

Burgos has been involved in two projects for the past four years: the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC), which searches the sky for potentially dangerous asteroids, and Backyard Worlds: Planet 9. This project uses data from NASA's now-completed Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and its follow-up mission, NEOWISE, to search for brown dwarfs and a hypothetical ninth planet.

Kuchner launched it in 2015. Neowise Missions found about 2 billion sources in the sky. "So the question is: Are there any new unknowns among the many sources?" he said.

More than 4,000 brown dwarves have been discovered on the project. These are objects the size of Jupiter - the sphere of gas is too large to become a planet, but too small to become a star. Volunteers even helped discover a new type of brown dwarf.

Participants in the project also hope that they will find a hypothetical ninth planet, probably the size of Neptune, in orbit outside Pluto.

Burgos explains that analyzing images is easy. "If this is a moving object, it obviously gets attention," he said. "Usually, when you see these images, everything is still. But if there is an object moving, you have to pay close attention to it."

Once the citizen scientists labeled the object on the entire image sequence, they sent the information to NASA scientists for evaluation.

"As a citizen scientist, I'm happy to do my own thing and hopefully one day I'll find something really interesting," he said. "That's the beauty of NASA - it invites everyone to be a scientist. It doesn't matter what you are here, it's your desire to learn."

To become a NASA citizen scientist, please visit the program's website first. There you will find a complete list of available items with links to their respective sites. Some are available in Spanish and other languages. Since 2006, many projects have also been hosted on the World Platform.

“Another cool way to get involved is to attend one of our live events,” Kuhner said. These are virtual events that are open to the public, where NASA scientists showcase their projects and invite people to attend. “Pick a project you like and if it’s not interesting, choose another one,” he advises. “If you come into contact with scientists and other participants, you’ll have a great relationship.”

People of all ages can be citizen scientists. Some projects are kid-friendly, such as Nemo-net, an iPad game where participants are invited to color the reefs to help them sort them. "I want to encourage young people to start there or try a project with an older person in their lifetime," Kuhner said.

Citizen science can also be performed in classrooms. In the development of Beyond the Earth Project, teachers and students conducted experiments on how to plant plants for future missions in space. The IASC program also works with high schools to help students discover asteroids.

Globe Observer is another initiative of the international network of teachers and students. The platform offers a range of projects – many in Spanish – that invite people to use their mobile phones to collect data.

The most popular is the Globe Mosquito habitat mapper, which tracks the migration and spread of disease-carrying mosquitoes. "It's a way to help save lives - tracking vectors that spread malaria and Zika viruses, etc."

Other Globe projects will explore everything from ground coverage to cloud type. Some people use astronomical phenomena to be visible. For example, during the 2024 solar eclipse, participants measured temperatures using their mobile phones and shared data with NASA scientists.

No prior research is required, but many volunteers continue to collaborate and even lead research. More than 500 NASA citizen scientists have co-written scientific publications.

One of them is Hugo Durantini Luca from Cordoba, Argentina, who participated in 17 published articles and performed more. Over the years, he has explored various scientific projects in search of scientific projects that can contribute more positively.

He participated in NASA's first citizen science project, Stardust@Home, which invites users to search for interstellar dust particles from collectors using a virtual microscope.

In 2014, he discovered disk detectives, a project that searched disks around the stars that planets might form. By viewing images of wise and new tasks, participants can help understand how the world was born and how the solar system develops.

"And, by the way, it would be even better if we find planets or signs of life," Durantini Luca said.

Although that was still a dream, they found other discoveries, such as a new type of stellar disk called "Peter Pan Disk", which looks young even if the stars it surrounds are not.

In 2016, Durantini Luca had the opportunity to support disk detectives through his own Southern Hemisphere observations. He headed to the El Leoncito astronomical complex (Casleo), an observatory in San Juan, Argentina. There, he learned to use a spectrometer - an instrument that breaks down starlight to analyze its composition.

He cherishes this experience. "Strangely, this is the first time in my life using a telescope," he said.

While face-to-face opportunities are rare, both virtual and physical events help build a community. Citizen scientists stay in touch every week through various channels.

"Several of us are already friends - after years of bad jokes on the phone," Durantini Luca said.

“People sent me photos of how they met,” Kuhner said, and the plan even changed his scientific approach, he said. “It changed my life,” he said. “Science is already cool, and it makes it cooler.”