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Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

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ETD Instrument System and Technology Division

ISTD | Code 550

ISTD Covers The Spectrum

The Instrument Systems and Technology Division is Goddard’s bridge to the sciences and exploration community through partnerships with today’s brightest scientists and engineers from across the nation. 

Engineering The Future

Our engineer’s technical knowledge spans the entire electromagnetic spectrum. We work on exciting instruments such as optics, cryogenics, lasers, detectors, and microwave radar. By applying technical knowledge, we build instruments that create impact from the ground up to help answer some science’s greatest questions about our earth and our universe. 

Division Branches
Inspection of fiber-optic connections in a cryogenic system.
Jack Sadleir inspects fiber-optic connections in a cryogenic system used to test his life-finding sensors at Goddard Space Flight Center.
The Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), for example, shown above is PACE’s primary sensor and is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure light properties over the electromagnetic spectrum.

Mission

Fueled by passion and a sense of curiosity, the Instrument Systems and Technology Division aims to be recognized as a leader for consistently excelling in the development of state-of-the-art Earth and space science instrument hardware and innovative technologies within technical requirements and cost, on time to enable scientific discovery and exploration.

Understanding more about Earth’s resources is a NASA priority crucial to exploring Earth’s natural satellite and other objects in the solar system and beyond. The ISTD works to prototype technologies such as airborne and ground-based instruments to improve the Earth and to explore our solar system and beyond.

IceCube being deployed from the ISS.

Creating Impact From The Ground Up

Division Leadership

  • 550
Jessica Lounsbury, 550 and 560 Chief (Acting).
Jessica Lounsbury
Chief
Diep Nguyen, 550 Associate Chief
Diep Nguyen
Associate Chief
Space holder for staff photo
Marcellus Proctor
Associate Chief
Renee Reynolds, 550 Assistant Chief for Technology
Renee Reynolds
Assistant Chief for Technology
Synthia Tonn, 550 Chief Engineer
Synthia Tonn
Chief Engineer

Contact ISTD

The members of the Instrument Systems & Technology Division welcomes questions and comments. Please contact the ISTD office at 301-286-7531.


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ABOUT ETD

The Engineering & Technology Directorate at Goddard designs missions, builds satellites and instruments, operates and controls spacecrafts, and acquires/distributes data to the world-wide science community. ETD data products are used to conduct research in Earth and Space Sciences that benefit both the nation and the world.

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Page Last Updated: Apr 8, 2025

Page Editor: ETD Web Team

Responsible NASA Official: Hector Dietsch

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