Planetary physics encompasses a wide body of research. Scientists study objects ranging in size from small meteoroids that enter the Earth's atmosphere to gas giants such as Jupiter. The science is often done from robotic space exploration vehicles such as satellites and rovers. The following areas of study are included in LASP's planetary sciences research program:

• Planetary surfaces and their evolution
• Atmospheres and exospheres
• Magnetospheres
• Planetary rings
• Dusty plasmas (multi-component plasmas with macroscopic charge carriers)
• Solar system origins (study of extra-solar planets and proto-planetary disks)
• Comets
• Astrobiology (including the properties of habitable planets and the search for life elsewhere)

Since 1965 LASP has sent instruments on eight spacecraft to ALL of the planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto). LASP is the only institution in the world with this claim to fame. LASP scientists made the first reliable topographic map of Mars; found evidence of active vulcanism on Venus; studied very bright aurora on Jupiter and worked to understand its magnetosphere; measured in unprecedented detail the fine structure of Saturn's rings; and even imaged Halley's comet from orbit around Venus. The result has been a better understanding of planetary processes. For example, theoretical work on Saturn's rings spilled over into the related area of planetary formation, especially important as more extra-solar planets are discovered. Recently the New Horizons mission to Pluto launched with a LASP payload. Other LASP research programs focus on Martian climate, geology, and geochemistry; on the role of electrically-charged dust in the evolving solar system; on low-velocity impacts in microgravity; on the magnetospheres of the outer planets and on the geology of the satellites of the giant planets.

Current Missions:

• SDC: Student Dust Counter on New Horizons - (Jan. 19, 2006 - )
• MESSENGER: Mercury - Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (August 3, 2004 - )
• Center for Astrobiology (1998 - )
• UVIS: Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph on Cassini (October 1997 - )
• Mars Exploration Rover missions Landing Site Working Group (1996 - )

Future Missions:

• Juno: Jupiter Polar Orbiter - studies of the space environment in Jupiter's polar regions (Launch date: 2010/11)

Past Missions:

• Galileo Jupiter Orbiter (08/87 - 09/91)
• Pioneer Venus Orbiter/ Pioneer 12 (May 20, 1978 - 1992)
• Pioneer Saturn/Pioneer 11 (March 2, 1972 - 2002)
• Voyager 1 & 2 (Nov. 12, 1980)

MESSENGER Completes Venus Flyby
NASA’s Mercury-bound MESSENGER spacecraft came within 2,990 kilometers (1,860 miles) of the surface of Venus early Tuesday morning during its second planetary encounter. The spacecraft used the tug of the planet’s gravity to change its trajectory significantly, shrinking the radius of its orbit around the Sun and bringing it closer to Mercury. (Read more...)

University of Colorado at Boulder