For 75 years, CU Boulder has been a leader in space exploration and innovation. We travel to space to monitor sea level rise, melting ice, weather patterns and more. Our researchers explore how to track and remove dangerous debris in space. We research the health of humans in space to inform medical applications for people on Earth.ÌýLearn more about the latest in space research and science at CU Boulder.
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Katya Arquilla

Improving astronaut team performance during lunar operations

Sept. 30, 2024

Katya Arquilla is leading a $1.5 million NASA grant to mitigate the negative effects of communication delays on the performance of astronaut teams for upcoming moon missions.

Woman in clean room bunny suit and wearing a mask uses a tool to make an adjustment on a gold instrument

Europa here we come: Colorado space instrument headed to Jupiter’s moon

Sept. 27, 2024

In just a few weeks, NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will begin its long journey through space, traveling nearly 1.8 billion miles over the span of six years. On board will be the SUrface Dust Analyzer, a gold-plated, bucket-shaped instrument designed and built by a team from Colorado.

an exoplanet

Potential indicators of life on other planets can be created in a lab

Sept. 27, 2024

Telescopic images often capture traces of gases that may indicate life and habitable planets. But findings from a new CIRES-led study challenge this idea.

MAVEN satellite

LASP-led NASA MAVEN mission commemorates 10 years in orbit

Sept. 27, 2024

After a decade at Mars, NASA's MAVEN mission, one of the largest NASA contracts in CU Boulder’s history, has produced a wealth of data about how the interactions between Mars’ atmosphere, the Sun and solar wind can explain the loss of the Martian atmosphere.

10 people, four wearing black flight suits and tow wearing camouflage uniforms, pose for a photo as seen from above

With Polaris Dawn’s launch, Colorado scientists will study vision changes in space

Sept. 10, 2024

This week, the crew of Polaris Dawn will attempt the first private spacewalk in history. Researchers from CU Boulder and CU Anschutz will be along for the ride.

Illustration of spacecraft with stars and the Milky Way in the background

New Horizons takes best measurements yet of the universe's eerie glow

Sept. 3, 2024

Over billions of years, the universe's stars and galaxies have left behind an imperceptibly faint light in space. NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has traveled to the edge of Earth's solar system and captured the most accurate measurement of this glow to date.

Earth sunrise, aurora and cities in northern Europe

LASP team advances in NASA mission concept competition

Aug. 8, 2024

A team at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics has received a $2 million award to develop a concept study for a NASA mission that will investigate how Earth’s lower atmosphere influences the upper atmosphere.

Goddard Space Center Director Makenzie Lystrup and LASP Director Dan Baker signing the collaborative Space Act Agreement

New agreement with NASA to advance national space weather capabilities

Aug. 5, 2024

Bolstering its longstanding collaboration with NASA, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics enacted a collaborative Space Act Agreement with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center focused on space weather.

A concept drawing of CEDA, a Rubik's cube-sized dust analyzer

LASP team awarded NASA technology grant to develop dust analyzer

July 30, 2024

NASA has awarded $1 million to a team led by LASP and CU Boulder physics scientist Xu Wang to develop a Rubik’s cube-sized instrument capable of measuring the speed, size and charge of tiny dust particles on small rocky bodies.

Sean Peters

New approach to aerial ground penetrating radar for Mars research

July 2, 2024

Sean Peters is leading a $2.45 million initiative to develop power efficient passive radar systems that could peek under the surface of Mars.

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