Its purpose is to develop and maintain expertise in new technologies of direct relevance to future science missions. To fulfill this responsibility we are performing within our sphere of expertise, in coordination with other ESA teams and via industrial contracts, the following tasks:

• Research and development of new instruments required for the current and long-term science directorate programme.
• Research and development of critical instrument components (detectors, application specific integrated circuits, etc.) for the current and long-term science directorate programme.
• Provide project management, technical, engineering and scientific support in the development and test of payload flight hardware.
• Support the development and maintenance of the infrastructure required for the long-term technology plans required in future scientific instruments and for Technology Reference Studies.
• Initiate and monitor Technology Development Activities (TDA) within ESA in close cooperation with SCI-AT.