Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Mechatronics and Robotics  

The OSAM-1 Robotic Servicing Arm in the cleanroom.
The OSAM-1 Robotic Servicing Arm in the cleanroom.

Mulit-disciplinary Mechatronics and Robotics Support for Space Exploration and Innovation

The Mechatronics and Robotics team provides multi-disciplinary support in areas of electromechanical systems engineering, including precision mechanisms, optomechanical systems, control electronics, and robotics. The team possesses capabilities and technology development expertise to conceptualize, define requirements, design, analyze, fabricate, integrate, and test world-class scientific instruments and spacecraft components in support of a variety of ground-based, suborbital, orbital, and interplanetary space and Earth science missions. The team collaborates closely with scientists, researchers, and other engineering disciplines to ensure the seamless integration and performance optimization of these cutting-edge components, pushing the boundaries of exploration and innovation in space technology. We welcome partnership with industry, academia, and other government agencies, seeking opportunities to share our decades of experience with the Space Mechanisms community, gain insights in new technologies and applications, and help advance the state of the art to support the missions of tomorrow.


Precision Mechanisms and Control Electronics 

The team develops precision mechanisms and control electronics to satisfy the most critical pointing, positioning, and stability requirements for instruments and spacecraft. 

In this photo, two engineers from the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) mission are configuring the Flight Robot Electronics Unit (REU) for thermal vacuum testing at the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Integration and Test Complex (Facility 237) in Greenbelt, MD. The REU provides motor control for the Servicing Payload Robot Arms and end-effectors.
In this photo, two engineers from the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) mission are configuring the Flight Robot Electronics Unit (REU) for thermal vacuum testing at the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Integration and Test Complex (Facility 237) in Greenbelt, MD. The REU provides motor control for the Servicing Payload Robot Arms and end-effectors.

Optomechanical Systems

The team provides optomechanical engineering expertise for the most sensitive telescope, detector, laser, and sensor applications requiring low distortion and high repeatability, stability, and accuracy.

In this photo, an engineer inspects the Roman Space Telescope’s Focal Plane System (FPS), suspended from a crane in NASA GSFC’s Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility. The FPS contains 18 detectors that form a Mosaic plate.
In this photo, an engineer inspects the Roman Space Telescope’s Focal Plane System (FPS), suspended from a crane in NASA GSFC’s Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility. The FPS contains 18 detectors that form a Mosaic plate.