NASA Technical Reports Scraper

NASA Technical Reports Scraper

Scrape NASA technical reports by keyword, author, center, or document type, up to a million per run. Each report returns with its title, abstract, publication date, and download links. No API key required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

NASA's public technical reports server holds decades of aerospace research, but its web interface is built for manual browsing, not bulk retrieval. This Actor queries the NTRS API directly, letting you filter by author, organization, date range, or subject category and collect the matching records in one structured dataset.

Who uses it	What they scrape NASA Technical Reports Server for
Aerospace engineers	Gathering all technical memoranda from a specific NASA center for a literature review.
Academic researchers	Building a corpus of conference papers on a narrow topic like aerodynamics or astrophysics.
Data analysts	Tracking publication trends across NASA centers over a multi-year period.
Science journalists	Finding the latest technical publications on a breaking space mission.

What it does

This Actor collects NASA technical report metadata by search query or API filters and returns each report as a flat row.

• Keyword and title search: Find reports by any term, from mission names to technical jargon.
• Date range filters: Narrow results by publication date or the date NASA acquired the document.
• Center and organization filters: Limit results to a single NASA center like JPL or Langley.
• Document type selection: Target only Technical Memoranda, Conference Papers, Contractor Reports, and more.
• Author and report number lookup: Retrieve all work by a specific researcher or a single known report.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with NASA Technical Reports Server data

Build a research bibliography.

A graduate student enters a subject category and date range to export every relevant NASA report into a reference manager.

Audit a center's output.

An R&D analyst filters by the Glenn Research Center and the last five years to chart its publication volume by document type.

Find a specific technical specification.

An engineer searches by report number to locate a single NASA Technical Memorandum and its linked PDF.

Track emerging research areas.

A market researcher runs a keyword search for a new propulsion technology every month to spot new conference papers and patents.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API registration	Query the NASA NTRS API without signing up for a key or managing rate limits.
Full metadata	Get the title, abstract, author list, publication date, document type, and download URL for every report.
Bulk export	Save up to a million records to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML for offline analysis.
Precise filtering	Combine search terms with center, document type, and date range to zero in on the exact research you need.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets NASA Technical Reports Server the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	NASA Technical Reports Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When NASA Technical Reports Server changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a search query, author name, or a combination of filters like center, document type, and date range, and filtering happens as each report is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.0075 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.75
1,000 results	$7.50
10,000 results	$75.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the NASA Technical Reports Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to NASA Technical Reports Server through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/nasa-reports-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

I am getting no results.

Check that your filters are not too restrictive. Try running with only a broad searchQuery first, then add filters one by one. Also confirm you are not mixing a startUrl with API filters.

The date filter is not working.

Date filters only apply when you use the search filter inputs. They are ignored if you provide a startUrl. Use the YYYY-MM-DD format.

My run stopped before reaching maxItems.

The Actor stops when it has read all available results matching your query. If the total matches are fewer than your maxItems setting, the run ends early.

The download link does not open a PDF.

Some records point to abstract pages or external publisher sites rather than direct PDFs. The link returned is the one NASA provides in the metadata.

I entered a startUrl but the run failed.

Direct URL scraping is not fully supported because NTRS uses a POST-based API. Remove the startUrl and use the search filters instead for a stable run.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Can I scrape a list of NASA report URLs I already have?	The Actor is designed for search-based collection using the NTRS API. Direct URL scraping is not fully supported because the server uses POST requests. Use the search filters for the most reliable results.
How do I download the full-text PDF of a report?	Each result row includes a download URL. You can pass that list of URLs to a generic file downloader Actor on Apify to fetch the PDFs in bulk.
What is the difference between publication date and date acquired?	Publication date is when the report was officially issued. Date acquired is when NASA added the record to the NTRS database. Use the one that fits your research timeline.
Can I search by NASA center?	Yes. The Center filter lets you pick from all major locations, including JPL, Goddard, Johnson, and Ames.
Is there a limit on how many reports I can get?	You set the maximum in the input, up to one million reports per run. The actual number returned depends on how many match your filters.
What document types are available?	You can filter by Technical Publications, Conference Papers, Contractor Reports, Technical Memoranda, Patents, Presentations, and several others.
Can I search for a specific author?	Yes. Use the Author filter with the format 'Smith, John' to find all reports by that person.
Does this Actor require a NASA API key?	No. It queries the public NTRS search endpoint and does not need any authentication.
Can I combine multiple filters in one run?	Yes. You can mix a search query with a center, a document type, and a date range to create a highly targeted collection.
What output formats are supported?	You can export your dataset in CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NASA. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.