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.ÌýLearn more about the latest in space research and science at CU Boulder.
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Enceladus, a moon of Saturn

The Jet Set: Understanding the plume shooting from a Saturn moon

May 5, 2016

First observed in 2005 by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn, a plume shooting into space from cracks on the icy surface of Enceladus is coming from a subterranean, salty ocean beneath the moon’s surface. The latest observations by a team including CU-Boulder Professor Larry Esposito indicate at least some of the narrow jets blast with increased fury when the moon is farther from Saturn.

View of earth from space

Grand Challenge expanded and enhanced by new projects

May 4, 2016

Six grants totaling $250,000 have been awarded to projects supporting CU-Boulder’s Grand Challenge "Our Space. Our Future." which features two major initiatives – Earth Lab and Integrated Remote and In Situ Sensing Initiative (IRISS) – plus more than a dozen related projects.

The Cassini spacecraft next to Saturn

Saturn spacecraft samples interstellar dust

April 15, 2016

A new study led by the European Space Agency and NASA involving the University of Colorado Boulder indicates NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected the faint but distinct signature of dust coming from beyond our solar system.

SpaceX Dragon capsule

CU-Boulder hardware to launch aboard SpaceX rocket April 8

April 7, 2016

High-tech hardware designed and built at the University of Colorado Boulder will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the commercial SpaceX Dragon capsule on Friday, April 8.

Mars

Early Mars bombardment likely enhanced life-supporting habitat

April 4, 2016

Comets and asteroids as large as West Virginia smacking into Mars some 4 billion years ago could have created a haven for life there not so long after the birth of the solar system.

CU-E3 satellite graduate student team members

Aerospace engineering students shoot for the moon and past it

March 21, 2016

A CU-Boulder student team is shooting for the moon and beyond with a tiny satellite under development that has just taken another step closer to launch. As one of the top five teams selected by NASA, the team of 10 graduate students will continue developing a small CubeSat satellite about the size of a shoebox called the CU Earth Escape Explorer (CU-E3) with a $30,000 award from NASA.

New Horizons

More surprises in store for the New Horizons spacecraft?

March 17, 2016

Students at CU-Boulder, who built a dust counter for the New Horizons mission to Pluto, have been eyeing the data for decade now. And the results are showing the solar system really is pretty barren if you put aside the planets, rings, moons, comets and asteroids.

Raina Gough

CU-Boulder’s Raina Gough joins NASA’s Mars rover science team

March 11, 2016

NASA has selected CU-Boulder researcher Raina Gough to join the Mars Curiosity rover mission as a participating scientist; she hopes to expand the science team’s search for evidence of liquid water.

galaxy merger site with two black holes

Galactic merger reveals an unusual star-deprived black hole

Jan. 5, 2016

An unusually star-deprived black hole at the site of two merged galaxies could provide new insight into black hole evolution and behavior.

Golden Rousseau and Scott Palo

CU-Boulder-built MinXSS cube satellite to study solar flares, X-rays emitted by the sun

Dec. 2, 2015

A NASA-funded miniature satellite built by University of Colorado Boulder students will launch at 5:55 p.m. EST on Thursday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the start of a six-month-long mission to study solar flares and the powerful X-rays emitted by the sun.

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