NASA · Rate Limits

Nasa Rate Limits

NASA Open APIs run on the api.data.gov shared gateway. Rate limits are scoped per-API-key for signed-up keys and per-IP for the shared DEMO_KEY. There are no separate live/sandbox modes; higher limits require contacting api@nasa.gov. Counters reset on a rolling hourly basis.

Nasa Rate Limits is the machine-readable rate-limit profile for NASA on the APIs.io network, in the API Commons Rate Limits shape.

It captures 3 rate-limit definitions, measuring requests_per_hour and requests_per_day.

Limit state is signalled in the limit and remaining response headers, and an exhausted limit returns HTTP 429.

This profile was written by API Evangelist and has not been verified against a page the provider published; treat every limit as unconfirmed until a dated transcription replaces it.

The profile also includes 4 backoff/retry policies defined and response codes documented for throttled and quotaExceeded.

Tagged areas include Rate Limiting, Government, Science, and Space.

3 Limits Exhausted: HTTP 429 Quota: 429 limitremaining
Method: generated, dated 2026-05-05.
Written by API Evangelist on 2026-05-05 and not verified against a page the provider published. Treat every limit as unconfirmed until a dated transcription replaces it.
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Rate LimitingGovernmentScienceSpace

Limits

Signed-up API key (default) key
requests_per_hour · hour
1000
Default for all signed-up keys across every NASA API at api.nasa.gov.
DEMO_KEY hourly IP
requests_per_hour · hour
30
Shared demo key — limit is per IP address, not per key.
DEMO_KEY daily IP
requests_per_day · day
50
Shared demo key daily ceiling per IP.

Policies

Rolling window
The hourly window resets on a rolling basis rather than at a fixed clock minute. After a block, access resumes within an hour without intervention.
Demo key vs signed key
DEMO_KEY is intended only for tutorials and exploration; production traffic should use a signed-up key. DEMO_KEY limits are enforced per IP and shared across all consumers from that IP.
Higher limits via email
Consumers needing more than 1,000 requests/hour are directed to email api@nasa.gov to request an allowlist; some upstream APIs (e.g. Earthdata, NASA POWER) have their own rate-limit policies documented separately.
Backoff
On 429, wait at least the remainder of the hour before resuming. There is no Retry-After header documented.

Sources

Work with this as data

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Tools for rate limits

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  • find_rate_limitsBrowse and filter every rate limit in the catalog.
  • apis_io_searchSTART HERE — APIs, providers and tags for one query, each with its total.
  • resolveTurn a domain, URL or GitHub org into the provider it belongs to.
  • find_cohortsEvery scored population of providers in the catalog.
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