LASP's 75th Anniversary

LASP’s 75th Anniversary

75 years of transforming human understanding of the cosmos

In April 1948, a U.S. Air Force research lab contracted with CU Boulder’s physics department to study the Sun by launching instruments mounted on surplus World War II rockets. To meet this challenge, the university assembled a team of scientists and engineers, founding what would become CU’s oldest and highest-budget research institute: the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.

LASP has since become the only academic research institute in the world to have sent scientific instruments to every planet in our solar system, plus the Sun and a host of moons. As the institute looks ahead to the next 75 years, its proud tradition of innovation keeps it at the cutting edge of space science.

LASP History

75 years of cutting-edge research

1948

LASP established as the Upper Air Laboratory

A decade before NASA was founded, the UAL was organized at CU Boulder to develop pointing controls for captured World War II rockets to be used for scientific research.

1948

1950s

First successful launch of a rocket for science

On the fifth attempt, in 1953 UAL succeeded in launching the first rocket to observe the Sun's ultraviolet radiation above Earth’s atmosphere. This success led to the spinoff of Ball Aerospace in 1956.

1950s

1960s

LASP’s first interplanetary missions

In 1963, UAL was renamed the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. In 1967, a LASP-built ultraviolet spectrometer flew past Venus on Mariner 5, and legacy instruments later studied Mars on Mariner 6, Mariner 7, and Mariner 9.

1960s

1980s

CU Boulder students begin operating NASA missions

After LASP’s Mission Operations Center opened in 1981, the institute trained the first team of CU Boulder students to operate NASA and other spacecraft. This tradition continues today.

1980s

1998

Launch of LASP’s first student-led mission

The institute’s first SmallSat, the Student Nitric Oxide Explorer (SNOE), was designed, built, and tested by CU Boulder students under the supervision of LASP professionals.

1998

2003

SORCE establishes a baseline for human-caused climate change

The success of the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE), the first large mission led by a LASP researcher, demonstrated the institute’s capacity to lead major missions. It also began one of the most fundamental climate data records: the amount of energy Earth’s atmosphere receives from the Sun.

2003

2009

LASP operates the search for Earth-like planets

The institute’s students and professionals conducted operations for NASA’s famous Kepler mission, which discovered hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone in our region of the Milky Way galaxy.

2009

2013

MAVEN begins its journey to understand the evolution of Mars’ atmosphere

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida to decipher Mars’ atmospheric history. LASP is the lead institute for MAVEN, which continues to be one of the lab’s largest missions.

2013

2015

LASP: Every planet… and beyond

When the LASP-built Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter on NASA’s New Horizons mission flew past Pluto in 2015, LASP became the world’s first (and only) academic institution to send an instrument to every planet in our solar system… and beyond.

2015

2023

75th anniversary begins

In early April, LASP began celebrating its 75th year.

2023

Every planet... and beyond

75 years of excellence in space science

LASP is the world’s only academic research institute to send an instrument to study every planet in our solar system… and beyond! Here are some highlights from missions we’ve been a part of.

Sun

LASP’s instrument on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is studying how and why the Sun’s extreme ultraviolet light varies over time.

Mission highlight: Captured video of enormous solar ‘tornadoes’, ultra-hot plumes of plasma that swirl above the Sun’s surface.

Mercury

Aboard the NASA MESSENGER mission, a LASP-built instrument detected magnesium in Mercury’s exosphere for the first time.

Mission highlight: Verified that water-ice deposits exist in shadowed craters at Mercury’s poles.

Venus

The LASP spectrometer on NASA’s Pioneer Venus Orbiter discovered sulfur dioxide in the clouds, hinting at volcanic eruptions.

Mission highlight: Identified 10.8-kilometer-tall Maxwell Montes as the planet’s highest point.

Earth

The planet we study most closely is Earth. LASP researchers investigate many societally relevant phenomena using measurements from space-based instruments, rockets, aircraft campaigns, and high-altitude balloons, in conjunction with state-of-the-art models.

Earth
Radiation
Balance

LASP instruments such as TSIS-1 contribute to this fundamental climate data record, and with the launch of Libera will soon measure both the incoming and outgoing parts of Earth’s energy budget.

Earth's
Atmosphere &
Surface

Through DYNAGLO, AIM, and other missions, we’re studying the layered sphere of gases that comprise our atmosphere, including the troposphere, where weather occurs; the stratosphere, where protective ozone lies; the mesosphere; and the thermosphere, where Earth’s auroras shimmer.

Solar
Influences on
Earth

LASP has a proud history of designing instruments to measure the Sun’s energy output to better understand its effects on Earth. These range from SORCE and the GOLD mission to NASA’s upcoming GDC mission.

Moon

A LASP instrument on NASA’s LADEE mission collected and analyzed samples of floating lunar dust particles.

Mission highlight: Revealed that tiny meteoroids contribute to the Moon’s exosphere, including by delivering water to it.

Mars

A LASP instrument on NASA’s MAVEN mission discovered an extraterrestrial aurora caused by the ‘precipitation’ of energized protons in the Red Planet’s atmosphere.

Mission highlight: Identified that solar wind has had a key role in stripping Mars’ atmosphere, changing the climate from a warmer, wetter environment to today’s cold and dry climate.

Jupiter

The LASP-built spectrometer aboard NASA’s Galileo mission observed the impacts of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 fragments on Jupiter.

Mission highlight: Found evidence of an ocean of liquid water beneath the ice shell of Jupiter’s moon Europa.

Saturn

LASP’s instrument about NASA’s Cassini mission measured emissions from gases emitted by volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io that had become ionized and trapped in the planet’s hefty magnetic field.

Mission highlight: Detected plumes of water erupting from another moon, Enceladus.

Uranus

Aboard NASA’s Voyager 2 mission, the instrument developed at LASP discovered that Uranus’ rings are younger than the solar system.

Mission highlight: Identified an irregular magnetic field, highly tilted from Uranus’ spin axis.

Neptune

The LASP-built instrument aboard Voyager 2 also discovered that Neptune’s rings are incomplete circles created by dust knocked off tiny moons.

Mission highlight: First mission to fly past Neptune and detect its irregular magnetic field

Pluto

LASP’s Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter on the NASA New Horizons mission was the first science instrument designed and built by students to launch on an interplanetary space mission.

Mission highlight: Discovered the largest known glacier in the solar system.

And beyond...

LASP has also been involved in numerous missions focused beyond our solar system. This included mission operations for NASA’s exoplanet-hunting Kepler mission and the agency’s current IXPE mission, which is measuring extreme space environments. LASP is also building an instrument for the upcoming IMAP mission, which will study the solar-wind boundary of our solar system.