Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

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  • The NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) X-ray telescope is reflected on NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 flight engineer Nick Hague’s spacesuit helmet visor in this high-flying “space-selfie” taken during a spacewalk on Jan. 16, 2025. NASA/Nick Hague

    NICER Regains Additional Capabilities Thanks to Engineering Teams’ Detector Reconfigurations

    A NASA X-ray telescope on the International Space Station called NICER, or Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, has regained additional daytime observation capabilities…

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  • A large scientific balloon is tethered to the ground as it inflates before liftoff in New Zealand. The super pressure balloon is attached to an orange and white parachute, and a scientific payload is suspended from a mobile launch crane.

    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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  • This photo shows the deployable aperture cover for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope as seen through the outer barrel assembly. Both components will help shield the telescope from stray light, improving Roman’s sensitivity to faint light from across the universe. Credit NASA/Chris Gunn

    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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  • Field testing was performed at NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, prior to liftoff. To do this, the 3D-printed magneto-electric dipole antenna was mounted to a ladder.

    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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  • Photo of the XRISM/Resolve quantum-calorimeter array in its storage container prior to integration into the instrument. The 6x6 array, 5 mm on a side, consists of independent detectors – each one a thermally isolated silicon thermistor with a HgTe absorber. The spectrometer consisting of this detector and other essential technologies separates astrophysical X-ray spectra into about 2400 resolution elements, which can be thought of as X-ray colors. NASA GSFC

    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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  • This photo shows the Optical Telescope Assembly for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which was recently delivered to the largest clean room at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. NASA/Chris Gunn

    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 teaser video image

    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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  • The BurstCube and SNOOPI satellites deploy into space in this photograph.

    NASA’s Mini BurstCube Mission Detects Mega Blast

    The shoebox-sized BurstCube satellite has observed its first gamma-ray burst, the most powerful kind of explosion in the universe, according to a recent analysis of observations collected over the last several months. “We’re excited to collect science data,” said Sean…

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  • The CASBa, Comprehensive Avionic System for Balloons, under development at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia, will occupy about 6 by 8 by 6 inches — about the size of a gallon jug of milk — of payload space while offering higher performance than the existing system. CASBa in this digital rendering includes a computing module, power switching unit, dual antenna GPS system and modem. Credit: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility

    Big Science Drives Wallops’ Upgrades for NASA Suborbital Missions

    Large amounts of data collected by today’s sensitive science instruments present a data-handling challenge to small rocket and balloon mission computing systems. “Just generally, science payloads are getting larger and more…

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  • Goddard engineer Murzy Jhabvala holds the heart of his Compact Thermal Imager camera technology – a high-resolution, high-spectral range infrared sensor suitable for small satellites and missions to other solar-system objects.

    Compact Infrared Cameras, Developed at Goddard, Enable New Science

    A new, higher-resolution infrared camera outfitted with a variety of lightweight filters could probe sunlight reflected off Earth’s upper atmosphere and surface, improve forest fire…

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  • AR Speeds Spacecraft Construction at Goddard

    Technicians armed with advanced measuring equipment, augmented reality headsets, and QR codes virtually checked the fit of some Roman Space Telescope structures before building or moving them through facilities at NASA’s…

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  • The Odysseus lunar lander in orbit. (Intuitive Machines/AP)

    A New Lunar Era with Help from Goddard’s Core Flight System

    In an unprecedented achievement, Intuitive Machines has become the first private company to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon. Their spacecraft, Odysseus, marks the first American lunar landing in over 50 years…

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  • Intuitive Machines said it moved the landing site for its IM-1 mission to the lunar south pole region at the request of NASA to better support Artemis. Credit: Intuitive Machines

    ROLSES Are Red

    No earlier than 14th February 2024, Goddard’s Radio wave Observation at the Lunar Surface of the photo-Electron Sheath (ROLSES) instrument will launch to the Moon’s South Polar region aboard Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission, as part of NASA’s Commercial…

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  • PACE Launch Image. Credit Ken Kremer spaceupclose.com

    Congratulations Team PACE 

    “We finally got our opportunity this morning and made the most of it with the very successful launch of our PACE observatory from the Cape.  Congratulations to everyone for achieving this monumental milestone for NASA and the Earth Science community…

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  • A team of NASA engineers dressed in cleanroom suits standing around a component of the Europa clipper.

    The Search for Organic Life

    Slated for launch in 2024, the Europa Clipper will be the first space mission dedicated to conducting a detailed study of an ocean world outside of our own — a world that likely harbors a salty ocean with twice as much water as Earth beneath its icy crust. Targeting Jupiter’s icy…

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  • The PACE spacecraft undergoing a thermal vacuum test where it is subjected to extreme temperatures and pressures in a pressure chamber.

    Keeping up with Our Ocean

    NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol Cloud Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission is to advance the assessment of ocean health by measuring the distribution of phytoplankton within it. Phytoplankton is a tiny plant/algae that sustains marine life and absorbs CO2 from the air. An important instrument…

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