"Noble Work" is a phrase that is used within NASA, and perhaps other technological contexts, to indicate the high value parts of a large project that are thought to be particularly interesting and desirable to work on. This is in contrast to other parts of the same project that are though to be mundane or ordinary.
Examples of Noble Work include building the scientific instruments within a mission like the Hubble Space Telescope. An example of non-Noble Work would be buying relatively low tech components that are made by others, or performing some necessary but intellectually uninspiring function like monitoring work contracts for Noble Work that gets done by others.
by La_Volpe February 20, 2014