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Looking Beyond Tomorrow

At the Microdevices Laboratory (MDL), the future is in our favor. As technology aims to get smaller and smaller, we are already armed with expertise on building micro- and nano-scale devices, giving us a jumpstart on what NASA missions will need in the decades ahead. By investing in highly productive, creative, curiosity-driven people who seek to answer the most important and challenging questions we have in science and technology.

MDL has secured a strong track record of thinking outside the box to deliver successful high-risk, high-payoff results. We look forward to an exciting, challenging, and dynamic future of creating new technologies that enable NASA space missions to make unique Earth Science, planetary and astrophysics discoveries, and pioneering technology development for many areas of national importance, from medical applications to national security.

Investments for the Future

The MDL's active facility is continuing to enjoy a number of upgrades, both large and small. Significant investments in new processing equipment and building updates are continuing to be made. This is in thanks to the vision, commitment, and support of JPL management, and especially the JPL Office of the Chief Scientist and Chief Technologist. With over 25 years of operation, the MDL looks forward with high expectations to continued innovations and inventions in our microdevices and nano-technologies that will enable JPL and others to make unprecedented discoveries in pursuit of its prime mission, contributing in unique ways to projects of national interest and enabling tomorrow what we can only imagine today.

Microdevices Laboratory

MDL Beyond

Looking Back to the First Stars' Formation

TIME

Looking Back to the First Stars' Formation TIME (the Tomographic Ionized Carbon Intensity Mapping Experiment) is the first instrument for spectral imaging array to investigate the early history of the universe...

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Could a Dusty Atmosphere be Good for You?

EMIT

The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) will use a sensor mounted to the exterior of the International Space Station to determine the mineral composition of natural sources that produce dust aerosols around the world...

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High Efficiency Far and Near Ultraviolet Detectors with Tailorable Response for SPARCS

SPARCS

In the search for extraterrestrial signs of life, many researchers are focusing on exoplanets - or planets that exist beyond our solar system - so far away that they are undetectable using current technology. Flagship mission concepts, such as...

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Euclid Mission Scheduled for Launch in 2020

EUCLID

Euclid, a planned mission to investigate the profound cosmic mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, has passed its preliminary design review. This clears the way for construction to begin. The Euclid consortium, with important...

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Why is the North Pole Warm?

PREFIRE

As our planet continues to warm, climate scientists need novel ways of exploring the processes that drive change and of measuring the markers that predict such alterations. These scientists recognize that the remote Arctic region of Earth is...

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