The Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) @UCBerkeley (UCB) is a preeminent university lab for space research and has participated in 50+ NASA missions since 1959.
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ALT UC Berkeley Space Sciences Lab engineers Chris Smith (left) and Bradley Pafchek (right) guide the COSI detector assembly toward its baseplate on July 08, 2026. Credit: UC Berkeley/Alan Toth
ALT John Tomisck, COSI’s principal investigator, and project systems engineer Ellen Taylor watch through a window as engineers Bradley Pafchek and Chris Smith guide the COSI detector assembly toward its baseplate on July 08, 2026. Credit: UC Berkeley/Alan Toth
ALT Engineers Bradley Pafchek and Matt Rubly examine the COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager) detector assembly at Space Sciences Laboratory on July 15, 2026. COSI is an upcoming mission that will measure gamma rays, the highest-energy form of light, to help scientists study energetic phenomena in the Milky Way and beyond. Credit: UC Berkeley/Alan Toth
ALT The COSI gamma-ray detector assembly rests on its baseplate on July 08, 2026. The gold part of the box is one of two thermal shields the mission will use to keep the detectors cold. Credit: UC Berkeley/Alan Toth
ALT Prof. Aziza Suleymanzade, from Berkeley Physics, delivering a presentation at the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory standing in front of a projected slideshow.
ALT Prof. Aziza Suleymanzade, from Berkeley Physics, delivering a presentation at the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory standing in front of a projected slideshow with a graphic depicting a hypothetical quantum network.
ALT Side-by-side comparison of two views of the gas giant Saturn, labeled “August 29, 2025” at the top left corner. At left is a straight-on view of Saturn, a globe with pale yellow horizontal bands at the equator and orange and pink at the mid-latitudes. Some bands towards the north and south pole have a light blue hue. There are prominent horizontal rings circling at the equator. At right, labeled “Saturn’s south pole,” the south-polar view of Saturn shows concentric bands in its atmosphere, mostly tan and orange, surrounding a dark central region that has a 10-sided outline. A small, dashed circle at the very center of the pole with an “X” inside denotes missing data.
ALT Against black space, Earth appears at left as a thin white-green crescent lit along its right edge. The Moon, slightly smaller and dimmer, sits at upper right as a matching tan crescent lit on the same side. Only a sliver of each world catches sunlight; the rest of both disks is lost in darkness.
ALT Jeremy McCauley, SSL aerospace manager, holds an electric fields antenna sphere from RBSP/VAP. McCauley describes the sphere to Victor Chourlin, French Space Liaison/Deputy Representative of CNES in Washington, explaining how SSL machinists were able to achieve 0.003" thickness, which is a little thinner than a Coke can.
ALT Marie-Hélène Baroux, president of ISAE-SUPAERO, delivers a talk at the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory.
ALT Ace Stratton, SSL research and development engineer, describes development of the PADRE mission to Marie-Hélène Baroux, President of ISAE-SUPAERO, and Victor Chourlin, French Space Liaison/Deputy Representative of CNES in Washington.
ALT Hannah Gulick describes two detectors for the Background and Transient Observer (BTO) instrument, which is a part of the COSI mission.
ALT From left to right: Robert Lillis, PI of NASA's ESCAPADE mission, Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Director of the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Lab, and Nicky Fox, Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Fox holds a . Fox holds a box containing a LEGO set of NASA's Compton Spectrometer and Imager mission.
ALT Dr. Nicky Fox speaking at a lectern at the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Lab.
ALT Dr. Nicky Fox speaking at a lectern at the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Lab.
ALT Aerospace instrumentation mechanical engineer Matt Rubly (left) and senior aerospace engineer Christopher Smith (right) in cleanroom attire posing with germanium detectors in an SSL cleanroom.
ALT Aerospace instrumentation mechanical engineer Matt Rubly in cleanroom attire measuring germanium detectors in an SSL cleanroom.
ALT Gloved hands inserting screws into the rack containing COSI’s 16 germanium detectors.
ALT Aerospace instrumentation mechanical engineer Matt Rubly in cleanroom attire inserting screws into rack containing germanium detectors.