The payload is based on the design of a previous successful experiment (NITE, the Near Infrared Telescope Experiment). The experiment section is mounted in a downward-looking configuration as part of the larger payload package, with Wallops-provided modules for telemetry, attitude control, guidance, and recovery. The experiment section is located below a transition module containing the CIBER readout electronics, cryogenic fill lines, and a sidelooking star tracker.

The attitude control system for CIBER will provide < 3" pointing stability in 25 s. Each imager has a dedicated 10 Mbps telemetry link, giving an array sample rate of 1.7 s. The data from the two spectrometers will be combined with housekeeping onto a third dedicated 10 Mbps link.

CIBER can observe a number of science fields, which are distributed over a wide range of ecliptic latitudes to measure zodiacal emission with the two spectrometers. We observe four deep fields in 50 s integrations with the imagers. These fields coincide with Spitzer and Akari fields with deep ancillary coverage in order to facilitate galaxy removal.