Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Technicians lift the mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope using a crane at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Mechanical engineering and integration technician Ivan Pratt installs brackets onto the static load testing platform in preparation of an OSAM-1 ground support equipment proof test at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt Md., July 19, 2023. NASA/Mike Guinto
Engineers Josh Yacobucci (left) and Scott Hesh test fit a science sensor sub-payload into a Black Brant sounding rocket at Wallops.
An image of the PACE technology in a MESA lab at Goddard.
A woman in a long-sleeved red jacket and blue gloves leans over a shiny rectangular spacecraft. The spacecraft sits on a circular platform covered in wires. To the left of her is a man in a blue long-sleeved jacket and gloves. He’s looking down at something out of frame. They are observed by a third man in a blue jacket. Behind them stretches a lab space with white walls, ductwork in the ceiling, and a variety of lab equipment.
Lifting James Webb Space Telescope

ETD is building the future.

The NASA Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate (ETD)

Where engineering and science partner to build the systems of tomorrow, today.

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Mechanical Engineering and Integration Technician

ETD is building the future.

The NASA Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate (ETD)

Where engineering and science partner to build the systems of tomorrow, today.

Learn More
Black Brant Sounding Rocket Testing

ETD is building the future.

The NASA Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate (ETD)

Where engineering and science partner to build the systems of tomorrow, today.

Learn More
PACE in a MESA Lab

ETD is building the future.

The NASA Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate (ETD)

Where engineering and science partner to build the systems of tomorrow, today.

Learn More
BurstCube Thermal Vacuum Test

ETD is building the future.

The NASA Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate (ETD)

Where engineering and science partner to build the systems of tomorrow, today.

Learn More
PlayPause
Technicians lift the mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope using a crane at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Mechanical engineering and integration technician Ivan Pratt installs brackets onto the static load testing platform in preparation of an OSAM-1 ground support equipment proof test at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt Md., July 19, 2023. NASA/Mike Guinto
Engineers Josh Yacobucci (left) and Scott Hesh test fit a science sensor sub-payload into a Black Brant sounding rocket at Wallops.
An image of the PACE technology in a MESA lab at Goddard.
A woman in a long-sleeved red jacket and blue gloves leans over a shiny rectangular spacecraft. The spacecraft sits on a circular platform covered in wires. To the left of her is a man in a blue long-sleeved jacket and gloves. He’s looking down at something out of frame. They are observed by a third man in a blue jacket. Behind them stretches a lab space with white walls, ductwork in the ceiling, and a variety of lab equipment.
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Building what has never been built before,
to discover the unknown.

At Goddard, the engineering workforce within ETD develops and builds new technologies that enable spaceflight missions. The engineering staff builds and oversees satellites, instruments, and their operation. The workforce’s new products and processes infuse into the space economy to benefit American technological advancement, capability, and dominance.

Graphic for the cover of NASA's Fiscal Year 2025 budget request, showing an artist's view of the Earth's horizon and atmosphere from space, the Moon, Mars and a field of stars.

Expanding Engineering Boundaries

Expanding today’s engineering boundaries through the application of emerging technologies to develop high-performance, cost-effective solutions to the most challenging problems.

End-to-end Science Mission Operation

The Engineering & Technology Directorate designs missions, builds satellites, develops instruments, and operates spacecrafts, in addition to acquiring and distributing scientific data globally.

Multidisciplinary Engineering Expertise

Provides multidisciplinary engineering expertise for the development of cutting-edge science and exploration systems and technologies.

Mission Driven Capabilities

Engineering supports a diverse range of space flight activities. ETD teams work together across disciplines to ensure missions are successful technically and we deliver on our commitments.

Enabling NASA’s Mission

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Greenbelt campus is home to the nation’s largest organization of scientists, engineers and technologists who conceive, design and build new technology to study the solar system and universe.


  • The largest organization at Goddard is the Engineering and Technology Directorate. It is home to approximately 1,300 civil servants and 2,000 contractors who provide multidisciplinary engineering expertise to critical NASA missions. 
  • The ETD’s areas of expertise include advanced technology, hands-on experience for successfully executing space science missions, and a world-class systems engineering approach.
  • At Goddard, it all begins and ends with science. We derive and share information, solutions, and technology for the benefit of all NASA, the Nation, and the World.

Our Work

The Engineering and Technology Directorate (ETD) is the engine that powers Goddard. ETD provides multi-disciplinary engineering expertise for the development of cutting-edge science and exploration systems and technologies in the following areas: Earth Science, Astrophysics, Solar System, Heliophysics and Exploration. In addition, ETD acquires and distributes science data worldwide.

Artist rendering of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
Astrophysics

Roman Space Telescope

PACE's primary sensor, Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), Engineering Test Unit (ETU) rolls into the TVAC chamber.
Earth

PACE

Artist's rendering of NOAA's GOES-T, which will provide coverage of the western U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, the eastern and central Pacific Ocean to New Zealand. (Image credit: NOAA)
Earth

GOES-U

DAVINCI Probe Descending
Solar System

DAVINCI

ETD Featured Stories

Explore featured stories, engineering news and information from leadership teams, the ETD’s work, education programs and outreach.

More ETD Featured Stories

Wallops Collaborates on Groundbreaking Super Pressure Balloon Test Flights

NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program has returned to Wānaka, New Zealand, for two scheduled flights to test and qualify the agency’s super pressure balloon technology. These stadium-sized, heavy-lift balloons will travel the...
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Goddard’s Roman Team Successfully Integrates the Deployable Aperture Cover

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has successfully integrated the mission’s deployable aperture cover — a visor-like sunshade that will help prevent unwanted light from entering the telescope — to the outer...
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Goddard’s Electronics Group Designs NASA 3D-Printed Antenna

In fall 2024, NASA developed and tested a 3D-printed antenna to demonstrate a low-cost capability to communicate science data to Earth. The antenna, tested in flight using an atmospheric weather balloon, could open the...
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Very Cold Detectors Reveal the Very Hot Universe and Kick Off a New Era in X-ray Astronomy

X-rays are radiated by matter hotter than one million Kelvin, and high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy can tell us about the composition of the matter and how fast and in what direction it is moving. Quantum calorimeters are...
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Telescope for Roman Mission Complete, Delivered to Goddard

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is one giant step closer to unlocking the mysteries of the universe. The mission has now received its final major delivery: the Optical Telescope Assembly, which includes a 7.9-foot (2.4-meter) primary mirror, nine additional mirrors...
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Leaders in Lidar Series

In this series, we dive into the legacy of Goddard's lead role in developing laser altimetry, which has revolutionized the way we map our planet, the Moon and other planets. Each chapter looks at the successes and failures of these lidar instruments, beginning with the Mars Observer Laser Altimeter in the late 1980s...
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Goddard Facilities