LPL Spotlight Stories
Beyond Jupiter, Researchers Discovered a 'Cradle of Comets'
Researchers have discovered a region just beyond Jupiter that acts as a "comet gateway," funneling icy bodies from deep space into the inner solar system, where they can become regular visitors of Earth's neighborhood.
Iron Magma Could Explain Psyche’s Density Puzzle
Volcanism has always intrigued humanity. Less than 50 years ago, scientists discovered cryovolcanism – ice volcanoes on other worlds. Now, researchers may have identified volcanoes of molten metal.
Today’s Students are Tomorrow’s Space Explorers
Ten students from Japan and Arizona gathered for the first official Space Camp at Biosphere 2, where they designed Biosphere 3 to sustain life on Mars.
Best of Both Worlds: Asteroids and Massive Mergers
LPL researchers are using the Catalina Sky Survey’s near-Earth object telescopes to locate the optical counterparts to gravitational waves triggered by massive mergers.
NASA Mission Selects Final Four Site Candidates for Asteroid Sample Return
Four locations on the asteroid Bennu have been selected as potential sample sites for the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.
A New Lens for Life-Searching Space Telescopes
UA researchers have designed a new kind of telescope that is a cheaper, lighter and more powerful option than creating telescopes using ever-larger mirrors. With a fleet of the newly designed space telescopes, they aim to scour a thousand worlds for the chemical signatures of life.
Travel to Alien Moons with UA Expert Guides
Humans first explored the Earth’s moon 50 years ago, an impressive feat for sure. But if you are interested in venturing a little off the beaten path, here are some other extraordinary moons to visit in the future.
$3M in NASA Funding to Help Students Build CubeSats
NASA's Minority University Research and Education Project Institutional Research Opportunity program will give students in Arizona and Puerto Rico the opportunity to collaborate with scientists and engineers on the next generation of space exploration technology.
Mapping the Moon and Worlds Beyond
UA scientists were instrumental in creating the first photographic atlases of the moon, which helped NASA successfully complete the Apollo 11 mission. Fifty years later, UA scientists are busy mapping worlds throughout our solar system.
Exploring A Desert Portal to Other Worlds
The merge between astronomy and geology, necessary to get humans to the moon, led to the birth of modern-day planetary science and a long history of field trips that continue to this day, enabling fledgling scientists to interpret data from far-off worlds without leaving Earth.