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Home Research Research Focus Areas Aerospace

Aerospace

#1 university recipient of NASA research awards

The University of Colorado Boulder has created an environment in which our aerospace engineering and Earth and space sciences faculty, students and industrial researchers work together to solve complex problems, envisioning and creating the future for space and Earth systems.

Pioneering new technologies

Enhancing research infrastructure

Inspiring a new generation of STEM innovators

Aerospace News

Earth glows during an Aurora, with a part of the International Space Station in the foreground

New center will lay groundwork for better space weather forecasts

As its name suggests, the newly launched Space Weather Operational Readiness Development (SWORD) center at CU Boulder seeks to offer a little protection for the planet, spurring research into the tumultuous environment several hundred miles above the surface of Earth. Read more
ring of dust around a star with small planet in the foreground

An infrared telescope that spans the globe? New grant may make it possible

Physicists and engineers at CU Boulder envision infrared astronomy telescopes that may one day span the entire globe—syncing up observations from instruments spread across the continents, or even orbiting Earth, and giving scientists an unprecedented look at phenomena like the birth of new planets. Read more
Illustration showing a sun with radiation impacting three planets surrounded by magnetic fields

New project to probe how planets lose their atmospheres

Scientists will develop “worlds in a box” to investigate the phenomenon of atmospheric escape—how some planets, like Earth, hold onto their atmospheres while others, like Mars, don’t. Read more
Read more at CU Boulder Today

Aerospace In-Depth Stories

Drone above fields, buildings

The future of autonomous airborne drones

Smead Aerospace will house a new NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) on autonomous air mobility and sensing Read more
An artist’s rendition of NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission

Students operate $214M NASA spacecraft: ‘It’s like what you see in the movies’

Over the next two years, CU Boulder undergraduates working as flight controllers at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) will help manage the day-to-day mission operations of NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft. Read more
HyperSpectral Imager for Climate Science (HySICS)

75 years of innovation in space research

CU Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics continues to build a legacy of expanding the frontiers of scientific knowledge Read more
Read more Aerospace Stories
Faculty leaders in Aerospace

Faculty Leaders

CU Boulder’s leadership in aerospace begins with world-class, committed faculty dedicated to innovation in aerospace engineering, Earth and space sciences.

International Space Station

Industry Partnerships

Our faculty and students conduct world-class research resulting in new scientific discoveries and groundbreaking technologies that create commercial opportunities for Colorado's aerospace community.

Graphic depicting solar influence on Earth

Research Institutes & Entities

CU Boulder is one of the nation's leading aerospace universities, with over a dozen aerospace-related departments, centers and institutes.

For Media

19

CU-affiliated NASA astronauts

$120+

million in aerospace-related research annually

8

All 8 planets visited, plus Pluto and beyond our solar system

20+

aerospace-related academic departments, centers and institutes

Unmanned flying vehicle parked in a field near Boulder

Shaping Tomorrow’s Leaders in Aerospace

The Ann and H. J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, part of CU Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, is one of the top 4 aerospace engineering departments in the country, with the #8 ranked graduate program (National Research Council) and #12 ranked undergraduate program nationwide (U. S. News & World Report).

Research Institutes & Entities

Faculty member works with student in LASP’s Mission Operations center

Training Undergraduates in Mission Operations

The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) is the only university-based Mission Operations & Data Systems center that trains and certifies undergraduates to perform mission ops for NASA satellites.

Research Institutes & Entities

Daniel Baker

A World Leader in Space Weather

The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) launched in 1948, a decade before NASA. Dan Baker, professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences and a strong advocate for increasing awareness of the risk and impacts of space weather, has served as director of LASP since 1994.

  • Professor, Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences

Faculty Leaders  Research Institutes & Entities

Penina Axelrad

Improving Satellite Navigation

Penina Axelrad is a leading expert in GPS technology for real-time satellite operations. Her research group at the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research primarily focuses on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) used for orbit determination, remote sensing and vehicle navigation.  

  • Professor, Aerospace Engineering Sciences

Faculty Leaders  Research Institutes & Entities

Boulder from space

Understanding our Planet

Researchers at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) use space-based remote sensing to enhance our understanding of the Earth environment, from the oceans to the atmosphere. Waleed Abdalati, a professor of geography at CU Boulder who worked for 12 years as a NASA scientist, serves as director of CIRES. Most recently, Dr. Abdalati chaired the Committee for the Decadel Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space.

  • Professor, Geography

Faculty Leaders  Research Institutes & Entities

Zoya Popovic

Expanding Research Capabilities

Zoya Popovic played a critical role in partnering with Lockheed Martin Corporation to fund the Lockheed Martin Radio Frequency Space Systems Research Center, along with several academic programs.

  • Distinguished Professor, Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering

Faculty Leaders  Industry Partnerships

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission

Studying Asteroids and Comets Near Earth

Daniel Scheeres is recognized for his pioneering work on the motion of bodies in strongly perturbed environments, such as near asteroids and comets. He is currently the leader of the radio science team on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which will collect samples from asteroid Bennu and return them to Earth.

  • Distinguished Professor, Aerospace Engineering Sciences

Faculty Leaders

Students in spacesuits

Space Minor

The Space Minor provides students from any major with an over-arching background in all aspects of space– especially the ways in which it has transformed how we communicate, get our news, engage in commerce and address issues critical to our future.

Graphic rendition of MAVEN in space

Investigating Mars’ Climate History with MAVEN

Bruce Jakosky, principal investigator for the MAVEN mission and one of the world’s preeminent experts on the Martian atmosphere and astrobiology, is studying the potential for life on Mars and elsewhere in the universe, along with philosophical and societal issues in astrobiology.

  • Professor, Geological Sciences

Faculty Leaders

Rendering of an extragalactic object in spac

Exploring Extragalactic Frontiers

Jack Burns, a fellow of the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, focuses his research on extragalactic astronomy (i.e. astronomy outside of the Milky Way galaxy) and cosmology, as well as supercomputer numerical simulations, space science and space exploration, and public policy issues in higher education and science.

  • Professor, Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences

Faculty Leaders  Research Institutes & Entities

Extraordinary Facilities & Resources

Aerospace Building

New Aerospace Building (Coming 2019)

LASP building

Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)

Wind tunnel

Experimental Aerodynamics Laboratory

Fiske Planetarium

Fiske Planetarium

Key Departments, Institutes & Centers

  • BioServe Space Technologies
  • Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
  • Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

  • Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences
  • Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences
  • Research & Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles

  • Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy
  • Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research
  • Center for Aerospace Structures

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