Category:2021
NASA awards $14 million to CU-LASP for two new CubeSat missions
Dec 14, 2021
Two new CubeSats, to be built by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder, will provide first-of-their-kind measurements of gravity waves in Earth’s upper atmosphere and explosions in the Sun’s corona.
Mysterious STEVE light emissions emanate from Earth’s magnetosphere
Dec 12, 2021
For years, amateur aurora watchers from Canada have noticed mysterious streaks of pale purple and green light that seemed to dance across the nighttime sky. But it wasn’t until 2016 that they shared their colorful images with scientists, who soon identified the lightshow as a new type of upper-atmosphere phenomenon that was jokingly named STEVE.
Scientists envision what Mars would look like as an exoplanet
Dec 12, 2021
Which planets beyond our solar system are most likely to host life? By extrapolating the current scientific understanding of Mars, a multi-disciplinary team, including researchers from LASP, are helping to identify alien planets that may be habitable.
NASA to fund LASP’s new OWLS instrument
Dec 07, 2021
NASA has funded a new LASP instrument package, the Occultation Wave Limb Sounder (OWLS), which will fly in 2024 on the International Satellite Program in Research and Education (INSPIRESat-3) satellite.
LASP students, staff are ready to operate NASA’s new IXPE mission to study black holes
Dec 06, 2021
After years of preparation, LASP’s mission operations team, comprised of students and professionals, will assume control of NASA’s IXPE mission shortly after it launches from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday December 8th at 11:00pm MST.
Celebrating CU’s Bruce Jakosky and his dedication to the MAVEN mission to Mars
Dec 02, 2021
The word “maven” means an expert or connoisseur, an appellation that also appropriately describes Bruce Jakosky and his knowledge of—and affinity for—the planet Mars. He has dedicated the last 18 years to making the MAVEN mission to Mars a success. This year, Jakosky decided to step down as the mission’s principal investigator to focus more of his time on scientific research.
LASP-led research shows how hypervelocity dust impacts can affect a spacecraft and its operations
Nov 08, 2021
The Parker Solar Probe spacecraft, NASA’s newest and most ambitious effort to study the Sun, has broken a lot of records: it has gotten closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft to date, its instruments have operated at the hottest temperatures, and the probe is the fastest human-made object ever. But those records come at a cost: The spacecraft is moving so fast that running into even a tiny grain of dust can lead to serious damage.
NASA selects UC Berkeley – Compton Spectrometer and Imager for next Explorers Program mission
Oct 18, 2021
NASA announced today that the next mission in its Explorers Program will be a spacecraft that studies cosmic explosions and their elemental debris. The space agency selected the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), to be built at the University of California Berkeley, in place of the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) concept, ESCAPE.
LASP: ‘Boldly going’ where no space science research institute has gone before
Oct 13, 2021
When William Shatner, the actor who played the series’ swashbuckling Captain James T. Kirk, takes his seat on a space tourism flight this week, it will highlight the real-world technological advances that have occurred since 1966. LASP has played a staring role in the development of some of the latest technologies in space research.
United Arab Emirates and LASP announce new mission to explore the asteroid belt
Oct 06, 2021
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Space Agency is embarking on a new space mission in collaboration with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder. The mission will build on the success of the UAE’s ongoing Emirates Mars Mission to visit a much more ambitious target: the asteroid belt.
LASP researcher and Aerospace Engineering professor Xinlin Li elected a 2021 AGU Fellow
Sep 30, 2021
Xinlin Li, a researcher at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences (AES) at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
CUTE, LASP’s latest cereal box-sized spacecraft, to study ‘Hot Jupiter’ exoplanets
Sep 23, 2021
The CUTE smallsat designed and built by LASP researchers and engineers is slated to launch Sept. 27th as a rideshare on the NASA/USGS Landsat 9 mission.
LASP researchers led by undergraduate discover river of dust around the sun from Parker Solar Probe
Sep 09, 2021
A research team from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and led by former undergraduate student Anna Pusack discovered a dusty mystery in a newly explored region around Earth’s Sun.
NASA’s MAVEN mission begins a new chapter with a new leader
Sep 09, 2021
Dr. Shannon Curry, a planetary scientist and the Deputy Assistant Director of Planetary Science at the Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) at the University of California, Berkeley, has assumed leadership of NASA’s MAVEN mission.
LASP rocket flight to sharpen NASA’s study of the Sun
Sep 07, 2021
The SDO/EVE rocket launch window opens at 11:25am MDT on Sept. 9th, 2021 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The measurements will provide necessary instrument calibrations for NASA’s study of the Sun.
LASP and CU showcase expertise at the 36th Space Symposium
Aug 27, 2021
This week leaders from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and other University of Colorado (CU) affiliates participated in the 36th Space Symposium.
LASP researcher Scott Piggott named AIAA Professional Engineer of the Year
Aug 17, 2021
The Rocky Mountain Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the world’s largest aerospace technical society, has selected researcher Scott Piggott as its 2020–2021 Professional Engineer of the Year.
Dust storms on Mars play a huge role in drying out the planet
Aug 16, 2021
A new Nature Astronomy study led by Michael Chaffin, a researcher at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder, indicates that regional dust storms can play a significant role in drying out the Red Planet.
Branson vs. Bezos: who wins the race depends on your definition of outer space
Jul 19, 2021
The lack of a uniform definition of where space begins has scientific and engineering implications that extend well beyond which billionaire gets there first.
Hope Probe captures new images of Mars with the Emirates Ultraviolet Spectrometer
Mar 09, 2021
The Emirates Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS) took its first science images on February 20th, 2021, providing information on the composition of Mars’ upper atmosphere.
Decades of Mars research by CU faculty and students lays the groundwork for human astronauts
Mar 05, 2021
2021 is a good year to be a Mars researcher like Bruce Jakosky at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at CU Boulder.
Hope Probe returns its first image of Mars capturing Olympus Mons at Sunrise
Feb 14, 2021
The first science image of the Martian planet was taken by the Emirates eXploration Imager (EXI) on February 10, 2021, one day after orbit insertion.
Emirates Mars Mission to Arrive at Mars on Feb. 9th in partnership with LASP at CU Boulder
Feb 04, 2021
After launching 7 months ago, the Emirates Mars Mission, the first interplanetary exploration undertaken by an Arab nation, is scheduled to reach Mars’ orbit on February 9, 2021 at 8:41 a.m. MST. It will spend one Martian Year (about two Earth years) orbiting the red planet gathering crucial science data.
NASA awards $14 million to CU-LASP for two new CubeSat missions
Dec 14, 2021Two new CubeSats, to be built by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder, will provide first-of-their-kind measurements of gravity waves in Earth’s upper atmosphere and explosions in the Sun’s corona.
Mysterious STEVE light emissions emanate from Earth’s magnetosphere
Dec 12, 2021For years, amateur aurora watchers from Canada have noticed mysterious streaks of pale purple and green light that seemed to dance across the nighttime sky. But it wasn’t until 2016 that they shared their colorful images with scientists, who soon identified the lightshow as a new type of upper-atmosphere phenomenon that was jokingly named STEVE.
Scientists envision what Mars would look like as an exoplanet
Dec 12, 2021Which planets beyond our solar system are most likely to host life? By extrapolating the current scientific understanding of Mars, a multi-disciplinary team, including researchers from LASP, are helping to identify alien planets that may be habitable.
NASA to fund LASP’s new OWLS instrument
Dec 07, 2021NASA has funded a new LASP instrument package, the Occultation Wave Limb Sounder (OWLS), which will fly in 2024 on the International Satellite Program in Research and Education (INSPIRESat-3) satellite.
LASP students, staff are ready to operate NASA’s new IXPE mission to study black holes
Dec 06, 2021After years of preparation, LASP’s mission operations team, comprised of students and professionals, will assume control of NASA’s IXPE mission shortly after it launches from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday December 8th at 11:00pm MST.
Celebrating CU’s Bruce Jakosky and his dedication to the MAVEN mission to Mars
Dec 02, 2021The word “maven” means an expert or connoisseur, an appellation that also appropriately describes Bruce Jakosky and his knowledge of—and affinity for—the planet Mars. He has dedicated the last 18 years to making the MAVEN mission to Mars a success. This year, Jakosky decided to step down as the mission’s principal investigator to focus more of his time on scientific research.
LASP-led research shows how hypervelocity dust impacts can affect a spacecraft and its operations
Nov 08, 2021The Parker Solar Probe spacecraft, NASA’s newest and most ambitious effort to study the Sun, has broken a lot of records: it has gotten closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft to date, its instruments have operated at the hottest temperatures, and the probe is the fastest human-made object ever. But those records come at a cost: The spacecraft is moving so fast that running into even a tiny grain of dust can lead to serious damage.
NASA selects UC Berkeley – Compton Spectrometer and Imager for next Explorers Program mission
Oct 18, 2021NASA announced today that the next mission in its Explorers Program will be a spacecraft that studies cosmic explosions and their elemental debris. The space agency selected the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), to be built at the University of California Berkeley, in place of the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) concept, ESCAPE.
LASP: ‘Boldly going’ where no space science research institute has gone before
Oct 13, 2021When William Shatner, the actor who played the series’ swashbuckling Captain James T. Kirk, takes his seat on a space tourism flight this week, it will highlight the real-world technological advances that have occurred since 1966. LASP has played a staring role in the development of some of the latest technologies in space research.
United Arab Emirates and LASP announce new mission to explore the asteroid belt
Oct 06, 2021The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Space Agency is embarking on a new space mission in collaboration with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder. The mission will build on the success of the UAE’s ongoing Emirates Mars Mission to visit a much more ambitious target: the asteroid belt.
LASP researcher and Aerospace Engineering professor Xinlin Li elected a 2021 AGU Fellow
Sep 30, 2021Xinlin Li, a researcher at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences (AES) at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
CUTE, LASP’s latest cereal box-sized spacecraft, to study ‘Hot Jupiter’ exoplanets
Sep 23, 2021The CUTE smallsat designed and built by LASP researchers and engineers is slated to launch Sept. 27th as a rideshare on the NASA/USGS Landsat 9 mission.
LASP researchers led by undergraduate discover river of dust around the sun from Parker Solar Probe
Sep 09, 2021A research team from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and led by former undergraduate student Anna Pusack discovered a dusty mystery in a newly explored region around Earth’s Sun.
NASA’s MAVEN mission begins a new chapter with a new leader
Sep 09, 2021Dr. Shannon Curry, a planetary scientist and the Deputy Assistant Director of Planetary Science at the Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) at the University of California, Berkeley, has assumed leadership of NASA’s MAVEN mission.
LASP rocket flight to sharpen NASA’s study of the Sun
Sep 07, 2021The SDO/EVE rocket launch window opens at 11:25am MDT on Sept. 9th, 2021 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The measurements will provide necessary instrument calibrations for NASA’s study of the Sun.
LASP and CU showcase expertise at the 36th Space Symposium
Aug 27, 2021This week leaders from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and other University of Colorado (CU) affiliates participated in the 36th Space Symposium.
LASP researcher Scott Piggott named AIAA Professional Engineer of the Year
Aug 17, 2021The Rocky Mountain Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the world’s largest aerospace technical society, has selected researcher Scott Piggott as its 2020–2021 Professional Engineer of the Year.
Dust storms on Mars play a huge role in drying out the planet
Aug 16, 2021A new Nature Astronomy study led by Michael Chaffin, a researcher at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder, indicates that regional dust storms can play a significant role in drying out the Red Planet.
Branson vs. Bezos: who wins the race depends on your definition of outer space
Jul 19, 2021The lack of a uniform definition of where space begins has scientific and engineering implications that extend well beyond which billionaire gets there first.
Hope Probe captures new images of Mars with the Emirates Ultraviolet Spectrometer
Mar 09, 2021The Emirates Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS) took its first science images on February 20th, 2021, providing information on the composition of Mars’ upper atmosphere.
Decades of Mars research by CU faculty and students lays the groundwork for human astronauts
Mar 05, 20212021 is a good year to be a Mars researcher like Bruce Jakosky at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at CU Boulder.
Hope Probe returns its first image of Mars capturing Olympus Mons at Sunrise
Feb 14, 2021The first science image of the Martian planet was taken by the Emirates eXploration Imager (EXI) on February 10, 2021, one day after orbit insertion.
Emirates Mars Mission to Arrive at Mars on Feb. 9th in partnership with LASP at CU Boulder
Feb 04, 2021After launching 7 months ago, the Emirates Mars Mission, the first interplanetary exploration undertaken by an Arab nation, is scheduled to reach Mars’ orbit on February 9, 2021 at 8:41 a.m. MST. It will spend one Martian Year (about two Earth years) orbiting the red planet gathering crucial science data.