Interactive Data Language

The Interactive Data Language (IDL) was originally designed to be used in space, but it has proved to be extremely useful in terrestrial environments, too. IDL has been used in many space missions and projects, like the salvation of the Hubble Space Telescope, the calibration of high-energy X-ray telescopes, and behind the scenes at Ball Aerospace. IDL's applications in the earth sciences include being used in monitoring waste sites to improve cleanup, tracking sea ice to keep ships safe, and improving accuracy in long-range weather predictions. Because IDL and other space technology have proved to be so useful in terrestrial environments, space technology should continue to be used in other fields of science.