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Draft for review. This page is under review before the Operational Readiness Review. Panels marked as open questions are still waiting for an answer. Send corrections to the Research Platform team.

Read time: 3 minutes. No technical knowledge needed. Status: the Research Platform is live. It has been operational since 15 August 2026. It is fully supported. The team adds new features and improves existing ones all the time.

In one sentence

The Research Platform is a ready-to-use science computing workspace in the cloud. You open it in your web browser, and you can write and run code, use large amounts of data, and work with AI help — without buying, building, or maintaining any computers.

It is a service inside the Science Cloud. You log in with the same Science Cloud identity you use for other Science Cloud services.

The short version

You log in and you get your own notebook workspace. (A notebook is a web page where you write code, run it, and see the results and charts next to the code.) Your files are saved for you. Your team can share data. If your work is too big for one machine, the platform gives you more machines. When you stop, the machines stop, and the cost stops.

Everything happens in the browser at rp.sciencecloud.nasa.gov. There is nothing to install on your laptop.

Who can use it

The Research Platform is open to any SMD-funded project. (SMD is NASA's Science Mission Directorate.) A project admin asks for a project, then adds the members of the team. See How to get access.

What problem it solves

Science teams used to do this work themselves:

Old way	On the Research Platform
Ask for cloud accounts, then build servers	Log in and start working in minutes
Install Python, libraries, and drivers by hand	The workspace already has the science software
Copy data between laptops	Shared team storage, with rules about who can read what
Guess what the work costs	See your own usage and your remaining budget in the workspace
Buy a bigger machine for a big job	Ask the platform for more machines, only while you need them
Set up your own AI tools and keys	Approved AI helpers are built in

What you get

Your own workspace. Private files, and science software already installed.
A size choice. You pick how much computer power you need when you start, from 4 GB up to 64 GB of memory.
Team storage. Space that only your project can see, plus your own private space.
More power on demand. The platform can spread one big job over many machines.
Background jobs. Send a long notebook to run on its own, and keep working meanwhile.
Working together. Two or more members can edit the same notebook at the same time.
AI help. An assistant inside the workspace, plus a catalog of approved AI tools.
Cost visibility. You see your own spend and what is left of your budget.

Each of these has its own page. Start with How to use the platform.

Who runs it, and who pays

A project admin (the person who runs a research project and its money) asks for a project, and adds members.
The platform team runs the service, keeps it secure, and reports the cost.
The project pays for what its members use. See How you pay for it.

The four parts (plain names)

You will hear these four names. You only touch the first one day to day.

Name	What it is for you
Research Platform	The workspace you open in your browser. This is where you work.
RPAdmin	The admin console. Project admins use it for members and budgets.
STAR	The login service. It checks who you are, one time, for everything.
AI Registry and Gateway	The catalog and front door for approved AI tools.

What data you can put on it

The Research Platform is FISMA Low today. FISMA is the US law that sets the security level for federal systems. "Low" is the level for data where a security problem would have only a limited effect.

So: put only FISMA Low data on the platform today. Do not put data that needs a higher level of protection.

The team is working to offer FISMA Moderate and ITAR support in the future. (ITAR is the US rule for export-controlled defense-related data.) When that work is finished, this page will say so.

Where to go next

You want to…	Go to
Know what works today, and what is coming	Capabilities and roadmap
Get an account	How to get access
Start working	How to use the platform
Get help	Email `support@sciencecloud.nasa.gov`