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 [email protected]. Counters reset on a rolling hourly basis.

3 Limits Throttle: 429 Quota: 429
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 [email protected] 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