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, conforming to the API Commons Rate Limits specification.
It captures 3 rate-limit definitions, measuring requests_per_hour and requests_per_day.
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
Throttle: 429
Quota: 429
Rate LimitingGovernmentScienceSpace
Limits
Signed-up API key (default) key
1000
Default for all signed-up keys across every NASA API at api.nasa.gov.
DEMO_KEY hourly IP
30
Shared demo key — limit is per IP address, not per key.
DEMO_KEY daily IP
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.