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.
 

Perseverance takes a selfie of its SuperCam instrument

Rover findings offer glimpse of Red Planet’s ancient landscape

Sept. 29, 2022

CU Boulder geologist Lisa Mayhew serves on the science team for NASA’s Perseverance rover, an intrepid machine that has crossed over nearly 8 miles of the surface of Mars—and is helping to recreate the forces that shaped this planet into what it looks like today.

Artist's depiction of spacecraft about to slam into an asteroid

NASA intentionally crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid. This engineer watched it happen

Sept. 22, 2022

On Monday, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test slammed into an asteroid called Dimorphos at speeds of more than 14,000 miles per hour. CU Boulder aerospace engineer Jay McMahon breaks down how this test could one day help to protect life on Earth.

Engineer inspects SUDA instrument in a clean room

New Colorado space instrument part of flagship mission to Europa

Sept. 21, 2022

In two years, a dust analyzer designed and built at CU Boulder will launch aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, aiding in its mission to determine if Jupiter's icy moon Europa has conditions that could support life.

Tobias Niederwieser and Luis Zea pose by two cases on a table in a lab

Yeast bound for moon will provide clues on how radiation impacts astronauts

Aug. 29, 2022

NASA's Artemis 1 mission could launch for the moon as early as Saturday, Sept. 3. Aboard will be an experiment designed by engineers at CU Boulder studying how radiation in space could impact human astronauts.

Earth and the moon

CU Boulder lands $5.5M Air Force project for orbital, artificial intelligence research

Aug. 24, 2022

A team of researchers is embarking on a major research project that will advance our understanding of orbital mechanics and monitoring, artificial intelligence and hypersonics.

A filament of ultra-hot, ionized gas, or "plasma," leaps off the surface of the sun.

These scientists watch the sun to better understand Earth

July 26, 2022

For decades, a community of "data stewards" has toiled behind the scenes to build records showing that humans, and not the sun, are responsible for driving the planet's climate into dangerous territory.

Image of clouds of interstellar gas and dust in the Carina Nebula

‘You ain’t seen nothing yet’: New space telescope gives first glimpses of universe

July 13, 2022

Astrophysicist John Bally takes a look at the first images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope—an instrument that is gazing farther into space and time than anything ever built by humans.

The craggy surface of the asteroid Bennu as seen from space

Hopping space dust may influence the way asteroids look and move

July 11, 2022

When NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at the asteroid Bennu, scientists discovered something surprising: The asteroid's surface wasn't smooth like many were expecting but was covered in large boulders. Now, a team of physicists think they know why.

moon surface

CU to participate in mission to explore moon’s mysterious Gruithuisen Domes

June 20, 2022

CU's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics will contribute scientific data systems and mission operations expertise to a NASA robotic mission to study the lunar surface prior to renewed human exploration.

Artist's depiction of the debris disk around the star HD 53143

Scientists discover really weird debris disk around nearby star

June 14, 2022

Disks made up of rocks and dust swirl around stars across the galaxy. These features are the "fossil record of planet formation," said astrophysicist Meredith MacGregor.

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