“These sorts of missions are an opportunity for students to get involved with a launch and the excitement that goes into it ... [fostering] an interest in space that will last a lifetime,” said Jerry Jason, director of mission operations and data systems at LASP.

Meredith MacGregor, assistant professor in the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy (CASA) at CU Boulder, spoke about the science of James Webb in a new Fiske Planetarium event series sponsored by Colorado-based Ball Aerospace, which designed and built the telescope’s unfolding mirror.

Built by LASP at CU Boulder, the CubeSats will provide first-of-their-kind measurements of gravity waves in Earth’s upper atmosphere and explosions in the Sun’s corona, filling data gaps that will allow scientists to better predict the effects of space weather on critical human infrastructure and technologies.

On December 8, students and professionals from LASP assumed control of NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission just after it lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida—the culmination of years of preparation, including thousands of hours of training and all-night rehearsals.

Drawing on electromagnetic and optical observations from Parker Solar Probe, a team led by LASP researcher and CU Boulder professor David Malaspina has produced the most complete picture yet of how hypervelocity dust impacts may damage a spacecraft and disturb its operations.

The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE) is slated to launch into space Sept. 27. The approximately $4 million spacecraft, a smaller-than-usual type of satellite known as a “CubeSat,” is about as large as a “family-sized box of Cheerios,” said LASP researcher Kevin France.

The UAE Space Agency is embarking on a new space mission in collaboration with Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at CU 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.

Exposure to the Sun degrades light sensors of all kinds, from retinas in the human eye to instruments aboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite, or SDO. Fortunately, with periodic calibrations, the latter can continue transmitting high-quality data to researchers on Earth.

Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. David D. Thompson joined University of Colorado President Todd Saliman, CU Boulder Provost Russell Moore and others on the UC Colorado Springs campus to sign the memorandum of understanding on Aug. 20.

A study co-authored by Professor Keith Julien (Applied Math) offers a new window into the sun’s mysterious inner workings and may have future implications for understanding space weather, which affects everything from satellites to the electrical grid.