LASP

A team at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) designed and built a new space instrument called the Interstellar Dust Experiment (IDEX). Part of NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and… Capturing stardust

Exciting news for the IMAP team today! The doors on LASP's IDEX instrument opened today! IDEX will study the composition of particles that were born in supernova explosions, giving scientists insight into the origins and evolution of our solar system.

Six outstanding CU Boulder students awarded 2025 Charles A. Barth Scholarship in Space Research The 2025 awardees for the Charles A. Barth scholarship have been named.

Congrats to these amazing students! Learn more about their work and the scholarship named for LASP's first director here: lasp.colorado.edu/2025/10/21/s...

Happy Halloween from LASP!

Usually, we use our Science On a Sphere to learn more about our terrific world, but today? Today, it's for celebrating the spookiest of holidays.

Discovery of multi-temperature coronal mass ejection signatures from a young solar analogue - Nature Astronomy Observations of multi-temperature stellar eruptions from EK Draconis reveal a solar-like yet complex view of stellar coronal mass ejections. Such frequent, powerful events on the young Sun may have…

New LASP study alert! The study, published in Nature Astronomy, reveals the first evidence of multi-temperature CMEs from a young star, supporting the theory that massive CMEs from the early Sun may have influenced Earth's atmosphere, impacting the development of life. 📸 NAOJ

Detection of organic compounds in freshly ejected ice grains from Enceladus’s ocean - Nature Astronomy Fresh ice grains from Enceladus’s plume were analysed during the highest-speed fly-by of the Cassini spacecraft. Organic compounds with a range of chemical structures were discovered, suggesting…

In 2008, the Cassini mission flew through the icy spray from the hidden ocean on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Now, a new analysis of the data from those fresh ice grains has revealed the presence of complex organic molecules.
Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🌕 🔭 Please join us at our International Observe the Moon Night event, tomorrow, Saturday 10/4 from 6:30-9pm on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall.

View the moon through our high power telescope while talking with scientists about lunar science and LASP's recent and upcoming missions.

#observethemoon

🚀 We hope to see you in Sydney for #IAC2025!
LASP is dedicated to science-led, mission-driven innovation: from SmallSats to global partnerships like INSPIRE. We don't just build hardware — we partner, train, and inspire. Visit Booth 118 to explore collaboration and advance space science together.

🚀 IMAP has launched! When it reaches its orbit 1 million miles from Earth, IMAP will study the Sun, including the LASP-built IDEX instrument that will study interstellar dust. Huge thanks to our partners and the LASP mission team. No one gets to space alone. Congrats, IMAP team! 📸 NASA/LASP

Space instrument launching this week to collect stardust A new instrument built at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at CU Boulder will capture tiny particles streaming into our solar system from

What’s drifting into our solar system from beyond the stars? 🌌

CU Boulder’s @laspatcu.bsky.social has built an instrument to catch interstellar dust, tiny messengers from the galaxy beyond.
https://bit.ly/420DJIo

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder campus are helping researchers study the oldest part of the solar system. For video licensing inquiries, contact: licensing@veritone.com CU Boulder helps researchers study oldest part of the solar system

Can you guess who's set to launch this week? 🥳 🚀 🛰️ This CBS Colorado report is a hint! #IDEX #IMAP www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXN8...

Happy National Postdoc Appreciation Week! 🧑‍🎓 🔭 🥳
LASP loves our postdocs! At our lab, they do everything from designing small satellites to building space instruments and analyzing data from other planets.
#nationalpostdocappreciationweek

A new space telescope will search for other planets that could host life. This CU astronomer recently joined the search Astronomers searching for Earth-like planets outside our solar system will soon get a boost from a new space telescope. Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder are working with NASA to…

What does the future of exoplanet exploration look like? 🌿 💧 🤔
Check out this KUNC interview with LASP Researcher Dr. Kevin France about what's happening in astrophysics observatories today, and what we're developing for tomorrow.
www.kunc.org/podcast/inth...

CU space dust device to study origins, evolution of solar system A space instrument built by the University of Colorado Boulder will launch aboard a NASA spacecraft on Sept. 23 to detect and analyze interstellar dust particles in space.

Did we spot IDEX on the cover of the @dailycamera.com yesterday? We think we did! Go IMAP!
www.dailycamera.com/2025/09/16/c...

Are you joining us in Fairbanks this week for the 2025 Sun-Earth Symposium? 🌞 🌍 🐻
We're excited to see our partners across the solar science world this week to dive deep into the latest and greatest research, technology, and missions!

Sending astronauts to the moon and Mars must be more than a photo op The only way to create a sustainable program of exploring the moon and Mars with humans, beyond the initial flush of achievement, is by fully integrating science into our planning. […]

Curious about a leader in Mars research's views on future exploration? LASP Senior Researcher and former MAVEN mission Principal Investigator Bruce Jakosky shares insights in his SpaceNews op-ed.
spacenews.com/sending-astr...

Dr. Bethany Ehlmann is a Buff!
Dr. Ehlmann has started as LASP’s Director. In addition to leading us, she holds faculty roles in the Research and Innovation Office, the Department of Geological Sciences, and the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences. lasp.colorado.edu/people/betha...

Happy back to school! Here's the thing about LASPians, we've been about space since day one. #backtoschool

Guess who turns 48 today!
Voyager 2 launched August 20, 1977, starting our (long) journey to interstellar space! LASP contributed the Photopolarimeter Subsystem on both Voyager missions, which studied Jupiter, Saturn, and the Rings of Saturn.
#Voyager2 #NASA
lasp.colorado.edu/missions/voy...

How to save a satellite: Student team races the clock to study a hazardous region of space Over several white-knuckle months, an operations team at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) brought a small satellite back from the

It's alive! 🧟 🛰️ 😱
Or it was until this weekend. Check out this article to learn more about how LASP, especially our student operators, revived a decommissioned CubeSat to take novel data as it reentered our atmosphere:
www.colorado.edu/today/2025/0...

🛰️ Are you joining us in Salt Lake City this week for #SmallSats25?
Visit the LASP booth to learn about our full-cycle capabilities, which could support your SmallSat dreams, and chat about our 100% science return rate on SmallSat missions.
👀 There might be some cool models to check out, too! 👀

Innovating the future of planetary exploration: IPM-2025 concludes at LASP Participants of the IPM-2025 workshop gathered on the steps of the meeting building on the University of Colorado Boulder’s campus to take a group photo. This week, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and…

We were so happy to host IPM-6 this week, and we look forward to working with our friends and partners to push the boundaries of solar system exploration. Uranus, here we come (someday)!

lasp.colorado.edu/2025/08/08/i...

IPM-5 kicks off at LASP tomorrow!
🌖 Monday: Chock full of lunar science talks
💫 Tuesday: Asteroid exploration and poster sessions
🛰️ Wednesday: All things Uranus and a future mission to explore the icy world
Check out the full schedule here: lasp.colorado.edu/meetings/ipm...

The Shining Students of the 2025 Boulder Solar Alliance REU program The Boulder Solar Alliance Research Experience for Undergraduates and Partners Across the Sky 2025 cohort on the last day of the program Over the last 10 weeks, nine students from colleges and…

Today was the last day for our 2025 REU class! ☀️🧑‍🔬 😭
It is one of our lab's most cherished roles to train the space industry's rising stars. Thank you to the REU students, those who support the program, and the hard-working LASPians who make this program possible.
lasp.colorado.edu/2025/08/01/t...

Are we alone? LASP researchers help NASA tackle the ultimate space science question LASP researchers are helping lead efforts to plan NASA’s next-generation large space telescope, the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which will be the first space telescope specifically designed to…

Are you as excited to discover strange new worlds as we are!? 🪐 ⭐ 🛰️

This week, LASPians are attending the “Towards the Habitable Worlds Observatory” conference, where they are planning NASA's flagship astrophysics missions. Read more about our work on HWO here: lasp.colorado.edu/2025/07/28/a...

Rocket launched from White Sands studies Sun, impact on Earth EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The thunder of a solid rocket booster hurtling a scientific payload to the edge of space shook the sides of buildings on White Sands Missile Range Friday. The sounding rocket…

Space science happens all over the US!
Catch this coverage of our recent SNIFS launch, so critically supported by our partners down at White Sands.
kvia.com/news/2025/07...

WSTF-WSMR Launch Channel WSTF-WSMR Launch Channel

It's go time for SNIFS! ☀️ 🚀 🎉
Hop on this livestream to watch our latest Sun-studying sounding rocket at 1 p.m. MDT, and learn more about this mission on our website.
video.ibm.com/wstf-wsmr

Don't miss a chance to discuss the future of planetary exploration at a lab that's visited all of the planets in our solar system! Registration for the International Workshop on Instrumentation for Planetary Missions- 6 closes tomorrow, July 17. Register here: lasp.colorado.edu/meetings/ipm... #IPM6

Hip hip hurray! LASP started working on this mission more than two decades ago 😯. Our dust instrument not only helped us learn more about our most distant solar system neighbor, but also trained a generation of space professionals!

LASP to host NASA workshop on instrumentation for future planetary missions From August 4-6, 2025 the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder will host the sixth International Workshop on Instrumentation for Planetary…

Do you daydream about the future of planetary exploration? 🪐 🌗 🛰️

Don't miss LASP hosting the sixth International Workshop on Instrumentation for Planetary Missions in August. Registration closes this week.

Learn more here:

lasp.colorado.edu/2025/07/14/l...

SNIFS The Solar eruptioN Integral Field Spectrograph (SNIFS) sounding rocket is designed to break new ground by using a unique set of capabilities to probe the most vexingly complex region of the solar atmo...

We are the Solar eruptioN Integral Field Spectrograph (SNIFS), a @laspatcu.bsky.social sounding rocket mission!
You can read more about us here: lasp.colorado.edu/missions/sni...
and here:
www.proquest.com/openview/805...

Watch this account for more updates as we get ready for launch!