NASA is allowing everyday citizens to take part in some of the agency's programs, sometimes called "citizen science" or "participatory science" projects. The projects, 36 in total, allow volunteers and amateurs to help make thousands of important scientific discoveries, such as spotting asteroids to searching for planets beyond our solar system. Open Science Data Repository Analysis Working Groups – Analyze space biology and health data to support astronauts. Eclipsing Binary Patrol – Examine space data to find rare pairs of stars that eclipse each other. HamSCI – Amateur radio operators help study Earth’s ionosphere.