University of Colorado at Boulder University of Colorado CU Home Search A to Z Index Map
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics

About

CCLDAS is an interdisciplinary program that addresses basic physical and applied questions regarding lunar dust and dusty plasma. (Courtesy LASP)

Founded in 2009, CCLDAS is a truly interdisciplinary program with researchers, faculty, and students from four University of Colorado Boulder academic departments: Physics, Aerospace Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences. Our partners include the NASA Johnson Space Center, two small businesses in Boulder, Colorado: Tech-X and Zybek, and no-cost international partners from Germany and Belgium. Our co-investigators represent a wide spectrum in career stages from young assistant professors to leading scientists from the Apollo era.

We provide experimental facilities to scientists and institutions around the world with the following capabilities:

  • Two dust accelerators: A large 3 MV and mini 20 KV accelerator
  • Large and small test chambers, including lunar environment simulators
  • A main lab of about 5,000 ft2
  • Office and conference space of about 5,000 ft2

We supported the development of the Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX), an in-situ impact dust detector on the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission. LADEE successfully launched in September of 2013.