ETD Capabilities Listing
Versatile Capability Solutions for NASA and Beyond
Beyond meeting the needs of NASA programs, ETD capabilities are applicable to a wide range of activities, both in aerospace and other fields, and are accessible to support various internal and external clients.
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Composite and Metallic Structure
Spacecraft and instrument structures vary greatly in shape, size, and material, with each project having distinct requirements. The Mechanical Engineering team specializes in designing, building, integrating, testing, and delivering both composite and metallic structural solutions…
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Mechanical Ground Support Equipment (MGSE)
The Mechanical Engineering teams bring decades of expertise in spaceflight mission design, assembly, and operation of various Mechanical Ground Support Equipment (MGSE), playing a crucial role in satellite development efforts. Engineers specialize in the creation…
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Computer Aided Design Software and Infrastructure
The Creo/Windchill Support Team (CWST) within the Mechanical Engineering Branch, maintains and supports industry-leading software, including Creo, Windchill, and SOLIDWORKS. We manage the entire Computer Aided Design (CAD) infrastructure, ensuring optimal performance, security compliance, seamless integration, training and training documentation…
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Advanced Laser Technologies for Interferometry
ETD’s Instrument System and Technology division team is developing ultra stable and low noise laser systems to measure gravitational waves in space starting with the laser transmitter for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission. LISA consists of three spacecraft that are separated by millions of miles and trailing tens of millions of miles…
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Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Capability
The NexGen Micro-Shutter Array (NGMSA, 736 x 384, ~282K pixels), an improvement over the magnetically actuated microshutter arrays (MSA) used in the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is an electrically actuated field object selector designed for ultraviolet, visible, and infrared multi-object spectroscopy…
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Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigeration System (ADR)
The ETD Cryogenics and Fluids team is the home of the leading spaceflight Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigeration System (ADR) group worldwide. Our ADR systems have proven to provide sustained cooling to spaceflight detectors as low as 30 mK for missions such as the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM). These magnetic…
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Sample Acquisition and Storage
Proper storage of sample media (solid/liquid/vapor) retrieved from celestial bodies is critical in the determination of constituents, and their relative proportions present at the time of sampling. For samples taken in environments under cryogenic temperature conditions, mitigation …
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Microwave Instruments
The Microwave Instruments and Technology Branch has a rich history of developing ground-based, airborne, and space-flight microwave instruments including radiometers, imagers, sounders, spectrometers, atmospheric radars, SARs, and bi-static radars for both earth and planetary science applications…
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Integration and Testing
Proper integration and testing (I&T) of spacecraft and spaceflight instruments are critical to the success of a mission. The requirements vary from project to project, but mechanical engineers have played a major role in the I&T process for many missions at the Goddard Space Flight Center…
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Advanced Manufacturing
Advanced Manufacturing at the Goddard Space Flight Center provides extensive mechanical capabilities and technology development essential for the design, analysis, fabrication, assembly, integration, and verification of scientific instruments and support platforms for various missions, including…
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Optomechanical Systems
The Mechatronics and Robotics Branch has facilities and equipment to support hardware development from concept to Flight. Machining services are available for prototyping, fixturing, and part modifications. Precision mechanisms and opto-mechanical systems are assembled and tested…
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Mechanical Systems (Wallops Flight Facility)
The Mechanical Systems Branch at Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) provides mechanical systems mission design and implementation for sub-orbital and special orbital projects, as well as Earth and space science instrument design and development activities…
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Environmental Testing: Thermal Vacuum Chamber and Vibration Table Collection
The Mechanical Systems Branch provides environmental testing and engineering services through a thermal vacuum chamber (TVAC) and vibration table. The TVAC is a cylindrical front-loading 4’ x 6’ chamber, with thermal shrouds that are independently controlled…
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Modular Unified Space Technology Avionics for Next Generation (MUSTANG)
MUSTANG is a small integrated Avionics system including Command and Data Handling (C&DH), Power System Electronics (PSE), Attitude Control Interfaces (ACS), and Propulsion Electronics. Decades of experience…
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High Voltage Instrument Electrical Systems
The power systems engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center, Building 20 specialize in the electrical system architecture, design, development and implementation of high-reliability and high-fidelity state-of-the-art Instrument Power and Control Electronics/Avionics for aerospace missions. This team continues building on their Space High-Voltage (HV) design legacy…
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Goddard Enhanced Onboard Navigation System (GEONS)
The Goddard Enhanced Onboard Navigation System (GEONS) is an enterprise, multi-mission, flight software library with associated tools that provides high-accuracy orbit, time, and attitude (future capability) solutions. GEONS can be used for onboard autonomous navigation, ground-based operational navigation, and ground-based simulation…