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. Learn more about the latest in space research and science at CU Boulder.
 

Woman in red track suit puts her feet up while working on a desktop computer

As Voyager 1’s mission draws to a close, one planetary scientist reflects on its legacy

March 18, 2024

Planetary scientist Fran Bagenal first encountered NASA’s Voyager spacecraft during a student job in the late 1970s. Get her take on following these spacecraft for nearly 50 years, as they traveled to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—and beyond the bounds of Earth’s solar system.

view of planet Earth from space

Pollution to production: Student startup transforms CO2 into aerospace hardware

March 8, 2024

Spencer Dansereau, a doctoral student in aerospace at CU Boulder, is building a business that could turn air pollution into a useable product.

Woman sits strapped into heavy-duty chair wearing a virtual reality headset

With space travel comes motion sickness. These engineers want to help

Feb. 29, 2024

In amusement park-like experiments on campus, aerospace engineers at CU Boulder are spinning, shaking and rocking people to study the disorientation and nausea that come from traveling from Earth to space and back again.

a solar flare

The most outstanding solar-flare eruptions are not always the most influential

Feb. 20, 2024

A recent CU Boulder study suggests confined flares are more efficient at heating plasma and producing ionizing radiation than comparable eruptive flares.

Alex Meyer

Asteroid named for CU Boulder aerospace grad student

Feb. 15, 2024

Alex Meyer is an astrodynamics expert, engineer, doctoral student and now part of the night sky. The International Astronomical Union has officially named an asteroid after him.

Black hole in deep space

How black holes switched from creating to quenching stars

Feb. 9, 2024

Mitchell Begelman and a team of other astronomers, including Joe Silk, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, published their findings in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, suggesting that new theories of galactic creation are needed to explain the existence of these huge black holes.

Illustration of lunar lander on the moon's surface

Radio telescope with CU Boulder ties lands at the moon’s South Pole

Feb. 6, 2024

In February, a lander named Odysseus designed by the company Intuitive Machines is scheduled to touch down on the moon, returning U.S. science to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years. Astrophysicists from CU Boulder will be along for the ride.

Technician in protective gear examines a computer chip

New instrument to capture stardust as part of NASA mission

Jan. 11, 2024

Scientists and engineers at the CU Boulder will soon take part in an effort to collect a bit of stardust—the tiny bits of matter that flow through the Milky Way Galaxy and were once the initial building blocks of our solar system.

Example of the mixed reality trajectory software.

Doctoral student designing augmented reality for space missions

Dec. 12, 2023

Dezell Turner loves orbital design, a critical step in planning any space mission, and he is plotting out a way to streamline the complex process with an interactive, augmented reality tool.

Artist's depiction of planet orbiting star

14-inch spacecraft delivers new details about ‘hot Jupiters’

Dec. 11, 2023

The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE) spacecraft, led by a team of scientists from CU Boulder, is about the size of a cereal box. It has also recorded incredibly detailed measurements of the atmospheres of planets hundreds of light-years from Earth.

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