Her responsibilities at Goddard have ranged from advanced detector development at the sensor level to optimizing the myriad systems and their interfaces needed to progress from a promising sensor technology to a robust, space-worthy spectrometer. In 2022 she was awarded a NASA Distinguished Service Medal for her mission-enabling developments.
Dr. Kilbourne is presently an instrument scientist for the XRISM/Resolve x-ray spectrometer, which is readying for launch in a year. She is also a co-investigator on the Athena/X-IFU spectrometer and is actively involved in developing future mission concepts. She is looking forward to applying these milli-Kelvin sensors to a wide range of detailed investigations of the mega-Kelvin, x-ray-emitting Universe.