Located in the small town of Greenbelt, Md, Goddard Space Flight Center has one of the world's largest teams of engineers and scientists dedicated to advancing our knowledge on Earth and space. The primary role of GSFC is to develop science and technology to support unmanned missions to study Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe. The Center is responsible for several of NASA's highest profile accomplishments, such as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Being NASA's first and oldest space center, GSFC has developed more instruments for planetary exploration than any other organization.
Aerial view of Goddard Space Flight Center. Image via nasa.gov.
GSFC's areas of research and technology are centered on four broad categories:
Earth science: This includes ICESat, a mission to monitor our planet's ice mass and other environmental variables; and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), a collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Astrophysics: To study the most extreme environments in the universe, missions include the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. With this telescope, astronomers are able to study how black holes accelerate jets of gas outward at incredible speeds, physicists can study subatomic particles at energies far greater than those seen in ground-based particle accelerators, and cosmologists are gaining valuable information about the birth and early evolution of the universe.
Heliophysics: Missions include the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), which was designed to study the internal structure of the sun, its extensive outer atmosphere, and the origin of solar wind, along with the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO). These two observatories traced the flow of energy and matter from the sun to Earth.
Planetary and lunar science: Among these is the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN), which will provide information about the Red Planet's atmosphere, climate history, and potential habitability. As part of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite of instruments began searching for compounds of carbon associated with life earlier this year.
GSFC is also very active in the design and development of advanced communications and navigation technologies. The Center developed civilian weather satellite systems, and partners with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in this capacity. Currently, Goddard is involved in over 40 active missions, and to support these missions, the Center developed a broad spectrum of technologies, capabilities, and expertise. GSFC's main focus areas include detector development, communications/navigation, mirror design and fabrication, mass spectrometers, magnetometers, and remote sensing.
Goddard is a world leader in the development of lightweight composite materials, for applications like JWST, in which these components need to maintain nanometer-scale tolerances across temperature extremes. Other areas of expertise include lasers, nanotechnologies and miniaturization, and X-ray detection.
For more information on Goddard Space Flight Center, visit nasa.gov.
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