Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Instrument Design Lab

What the IDL Provides

The Instrument Design Lab (IDL) provides a collaborative engineering environment for the development of instruments that make measurements at wavelengths across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. The key components of the IDL (i.e. people, process, tools and facility) result in a responsive dynamic atmosphere that affords a unique opportunity for accelerated development of design products tailored to a customer’s needs. From x-ray sky surveys to UV-visible instruments for solar and planetary physics to passive and active microwave radiometers for Earth-observing to the analysis of Martian and Lunar terrain, the IDL covers the needs of the Agency’s Science Mission Directorates. 

Integrated Design Center Engineers and Science Partners in a collaborative design session for the Artemis-Enabled Stellar Imager (AeSI) concept study in the IDL at Goddard.
Integrated Design Center Engineers and Science Partners in a collaborative design session for the Artemis-Enabled Stellar Imager (AeSI) concept study in the IDL at Goddard.

Range of study options, to match best value to concept development needs or products can be tailored to support customer need 

Concept Maturity Levels (CMLs), initially defined by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), provide a standardized tool to advance mission concept designs by assessing the current state of a concept and identifying remaining work to proceed to the next level.  IDC studies can be tailored to support concept maturation from CML 1 through CML 4. 

Office Hours

  • Timeframe: ~ 1 hr
  • No/low prep
  • Brainstorming Session
  • Identify tall poles and key trade studies
  • Recommend next steps and point of contact for early engineering support

Concept Development

  • Timeframe: A few half days
  • Potential Products: Concept Feasibility, Risk assessment
  • Scope informed by Concept Maturity Level (CML).

Tailored Trade Study

  • Timeframe: Variable
  • Potential Products: Concept, ConOps, Resources Summary, Trade Tree, possible ROM cost*
  • Scope informed by Concept Maturity Level (CML)

Point Design Study

  • Timeframe: 6.5 days
  • Products: CAD, MEL, engineering models, CEMA cost
  • Entry Criteria: “Pass” CML checklist

IDL Capabilities

Using the expertise of the Discipline Engineering Team , a proven design process, a comprehensive set of tools, and state-of-the-art facility, the IDL provides instrument teams and scientists tailored design services from discrete analytical\design tasks to full instrument design. 

Artist rendering of Artemis-enabled Stellar Interferrometer (AeSI) concept, credit Britt Griswold/GSFC
Artist rendering of Artemis-enabled Stellar Interferrometer (AeSI) concept, credit Britt Griswold/GSFC
  • Conceptualize instruments that make measurements at wavelengths across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including x-ray, gamma ray, ultra-violet, visible, infrared, and microwave instruments 
  • Address instrument families ranging from telescopes, cameras, lidars, spectrometers, polarimeters, coronographs, radiometers, mass spectrometers, etc. 
  • Model various flight environments, including LEO, GEO, libration, retrograde, away, lunar, deep space, and planetary orbiters, landers, and probes 
  • Realize instruments for different flight platforms, including space station, balloon, sounding rockets, and UAV instrument design environments 
  • Consider non-distributed and/or distributed instrument systems as well as robotic servicing, planetary rovers, and sample return

IDL Disciplines

During an Instrument Design Lab (IDL) session, the Discipline Engineering Team prepares material that addresses the requirements, baseline design, alternative designs & trade studies, functional diagrams, interfaces, detailed estimates of mass, power, and data rate, technical risk assessment, issues/concerns, recommendations, models, parametric/grassroots costs, and background information. 

IDL’s Discipline Engineering expertise spans a broad range of disciplines, including: 

  • Contamination
  • Costing
  • Cryogenics
  • Detectors
  • Electro-Mechanical 
  • Electro-Optical/Lasers
  • Fine Guidance
  • Flight Software
  • Integration & Test
  • Science Data Processing
  • Mechanical Design
  • Microwave RF
  • Radiometry
  • Optics
  • Materials
  • Radiation
  • Instrument Electronics
  • Structural
  • Mechanical Systems
  • Planetary Protection
  • Thermal

Sample IDL Products

Optical Performance Assessment

Master Equipment List (MEL)

Mechanism Design

Mechanical Packaging/CAD Model

Electrical Subsystem Architecture

Thermal Model of a Telescope Concept

Thermal Model

Planetary Science Winter School

The IDL hosts the culminating design week for the annual Planetary Science Winter School (PSWS), managed by Goddard’s Solar System Exploration Division (SSED). Goddard-based postdoctoral fellows and early career planetary scientists learn the flight instrument life cycle by designing a potential planetary flight instrument. They are assigned important roles as they shadow IDL engineers and experience first hand the mission and cost constraints, design trade-offs, and the teamwork that is required for successful preliminary designs.

Learn More

Contact for Study

To solicit an Integrated Design Lab Study, or for further information on the IDL Team,
process, or product options, please contact Liz Matson IDC Manager.