The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) laboratory operated by Stanford University, manages the Instrument Science Operations Center (ISOC) in B/84. The scope of work included demolition of existing space and constructing walls, flooring and constructing new walls, flooring and acoustical ceiling as well as mechanical and electrical upgrades for the labs and office space.

The equipment in the labs at ISOC manage the software and hardware required to process data from deep space exploration missions. It is currently monitoring the Large Area Telescope (LAT), the main instrument aboard Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST), formerly known as GLAST. which was launched into space several years ago. SLAC managed the development of the LAT and integrated the instrument from hardware fabricated at laboratories around the world. As FGST orbits Earth, LAT operates like a particle detector using 880,000 silicon strips to sense high-energy gamma ray bursts with unprecedented resolution and sensitivity, filling in gaps in understanding left by previous missions. It takes only a few hours for data to be collected onboard the LAT, transmitted to SLAC ISOC to be processed, and sent on to the Fermi Science Support Center at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, unveiling the mysteries of the universe and furthering our understanding of particle physics and astrophysics.