Space Telescope Science Institute Tech Stack

Science operations and data archive for NASA's flagship space telescopes

Research Services Baltimore, MD 501–1,000 employees Founded 1982 Nonprofit

Space Telescope Science Institute operates the science missions for Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope, plus manages MAST—a multi-petabyte archive serving the global astronomy community. The tech stack (Python, PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, AWS EKS, Apache Airflow, Kafka) reflects a data-infrastructure-first org managing mission-critical pipelines at scale; active pain points around petabyte datasets, low-latency queries, and containerized workload scaling confirm they're solving hard problems in distributed systems, not just running legacy systems.

Tech Stack 47 technologies

Core StackPython NumPy PostgreSQL Apache Airflow Kubernetes AWS GitLab CI/CD GitHub Actions AWS Lambda AWS RDS SQL Server Kafka Terraform CloudFormation C SciPy Astropy Git AWS EKS AWS ECS AWS SQS AWS SNS SQL Hubble YAML JSON HDF5 AWS Kinesis Groovy Gradle+17 more

What Space Telescope Science Institute Is Building

◆Challenges

Managing petabyte-scale datasets
Optimizing data pipelines
Scaling containerized workloads
Integrating jwst observations
Developing data pipelines
Supporting mission-critical data workflows
Large-scale data processing
Complex data visualization challenges
Low-latency queries on massive datasets
Performance tuning of large-scale databases

▲Active Projects

James webb space telescope calibration pipeline
Hst data processing pipelines
Advanced scientific data format (asdf) development
S&oc development and sustaining engineering
Mikulski archive for space telescopes (mast)
Jwst observations database
Characterizing uv output and flare rates of nearby m dwarfs
Developing photochemical and atmospheric escape models for small exoplanets
Observing secondary eclipses of rocky exoplanets with jwst/miri
Model accretion in supermassive black hole binaries

Hiring Activity

Steady25 roles · 10 in 30d

Department

Data

Research

Engineering

Ops

Communications

Finance

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Notable leadership hires: Public Outreach Division Head, Business Operations Division Head, Chief Engineer

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About Space Telescope Science Institute

STScI is a nonprofit research institute operating under the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, headquartered in Baltimore. The organization runs day-to-day science and mission operations for Hubble (since 1990) and JWST (since launch in December 2021), and will handle portions of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope missions launching in late 2026. Beyond operations, STScI conducts original astronomical research, curates the Mikulski Archive (MAST)—which disseminates data from over 20 space missions—and runs education and public outreach programs. The workforce spans data engineering, research science, and mission operations across 501–1,000 employees.

HeadquartersBaltimore, MD

Company Size501–1,000 employees

Founded1982

Hiring MarketsUnited States

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Space Telescope Science Institute's tech stack?

Primary languages: Python and C. Data layer: PostgreSQL, HDF5, SQL Server. Orchestration: Apache Airflow, Kubernetes (AWS EKS), AWS ECS. CI/CD: GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions. Messaging: Kafka, AWS Kinesis, SQS/SNS. Infrastructure as Code: Terraform, CloudFormation.

What is the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes?

MAST is STScI's curated data archive disseminating observations from over 20 astronomical missions. It serves as the primary public data repository for Hubble, JWST, and other missions, supporting global scientific discovery and research.