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.
 

Bubble of expanding gas created by a supernova.

Tree rings may hold clues to earthly impacts of distant supernovas

Nov. 11, 2020

A very nearby supernova could wipe all life off the face of Earth. But even farther away events may still leave their mark on the planet, new research suggests.

An image of the lunar surface partially in shadow.

Tiny moon shadows may harbor hidden stores of ice

Oct. 26, 2020

Finding the ingredients for a hot shower on the moon may have gotten a lot easier, new research suggests.

Artist's depiction of the SPRITE CubeSat orbiting Earth.

New CubeSat will observe the remnants of massive supernovas

Oct. 19, 2020

A new space mission will seek to better understand a time in the early universe when the first stars lived fast and hard, burning out and going supernova in the span of a few million years.

Artist's depiction of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft swooping toward Bennu to collect a sample of material from the asteroid's surface.

Scientists peer inside an asteroid

Oct. 8, 2020

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft rendezvoused with the asteroid Bennu in late 2018. Now, researchers think they know what this chunk of space debris is like on the inside.

Artist's depiction of the DAPPER satellite in orbit around the moon.

A roadmap for science on the moon

Sept. 30, 2020

Scientists at CU Boulder have laid out a roadmap for a decade of scientific research at the moon. Teams from the university will participate in four upcoming or proposed space missions that seek to use the moon as a unique laboratory for peering back to the dawn of the cosmos.

Artist's depiction of a magnetar with magnetic field lines emerging from its surface.

Astrophysicist probes cosmic 'dark matter detector'

Sept. 29, 2020

CU Boulder's Jeremy Darling believes that a distant and powerful collapsed star could help scientists to unlock the secrets of dark matter.

Artist's depiction of the twin Janus spacecraft flying in formation through space.

Where no spacecraft has gone before: A close encounter with binary asteroids

Sept. 10, 2020

In a moment for twos, the Janus mission will launch two identical spacecraft to rendezvous with two asteroid pairs millions of miles from Earth.

Image of the asteroid Bennu with small bits of material jumping off into space.

How small particles could reshape Bennu and other asteroids

Sept. 9, 2020

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft observed tiny bits of material jumping off the surface of the asteroid Bennu. A new study tracks where those particles went.

An image of aurora borealis from the ISS

CIRES scientists awarded $5.3M for space weather research

Sept. 2, 2020

NASA and the National Science Foundation have awarded two CU Boulder space weather scientists more than $5M to lay the groundwork for faster and more robust space weather forecasts.

Dust sticks to the boots of Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell in 1971.

Researchers develop dustbuster for the moon

Aug. 31, 2020

Future moon astronauts may one day be able to step into an electric-beam shower to clean sticky dust off of their spacesuits and equipment.

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