# NASA Picture of the Day

> NASA Picture of the Day is a paid API for AI agents from x402.forgemesh.io, paid per call via x402, $0.002/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-15).

Returns NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) — a space image or video with title, explanation, and direct media URL — for today or any past date.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://x402.forgemesh.io/nasa-picture-today
- Price: $0.002/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-15
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/nasa-picture-of-the-day-6042c60c
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_i5EBmMHRYg46fbeEafNK4

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability nasa-picture-of-the-day-6042c60c -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Can you grab NASA's astronomy picture of the day for today and show me the image and its explanation?

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when you need a pre-curated, ready-to-publish space image or video with a written explanation for any given date — ideal for daily newsletter bots, educational feeds, or content-generation agents that want zero curation overhead. Prefer this over building a direct NASA APOD integration when you want a simple paid-per-call model without managing API keys.

## Known failure modes

- Invalid date format (not YYYY-MM-DD) returns an error
- Date before June 16, 1995 (first APOD) has no data
- NASA upstream API unavailability causes failure
- Payment failure via x402 protocol blocks the request

## How this service works

One featured space image or video per day, with a written explanation, media type, and direct image URL, as structured JSON. Optional date param retrieves any past day's picture. Built for content-generation agents, daily-newsletter bots, and novelty/education feeds that want a fresh space visual with zero curation effort.

## Output

Returns a JSON object containing the media type (image or video), direct URL to the media, a title, a written explanation from NASA, and the date. Suitable for embedding in newsletters, feeds, or educational content with zero additional curation.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "date": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Date to fetch, YYYY-MM-DD. Omit for today's picture."
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "data": {
   "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2607/ngc300_1024.jpg",
   "date": "2026-07-16",
   "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2607/ngc300.jpg",
   "title": "NGC 300: A Cosmic Gemstone with Stars and Gas Clouds",
   "media_type": "image",
   "explanation": "This sparkling, colorful gemstone is a spiral galaxy, NGC 300..."
  },
  "attribution": "NASA APOD (public domain)"
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/nasa-picture-of-the-day-6042c60c/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from x402.forgemesh.io](https://www.zero.xyz/host/x402.forgemesh.io/llms.txt)