乐播传媒

CU Boulder and Ball Aerospace have been collaborating for decades to solve mysteries of the universe. That partnership was also the university鈥檚 first commercial spin-off and it greased the gears of an entrepreneurial engine that continues to power innovation within the university and far beyond.

This summer, NASA announced that it had selected four Space Weather Centers of Excellence, including the Space Weather Operational Readiness Development (SWORD) center at CU Boulder. As its name suggests, the nearly $10 million center will offer some powerful protection for the planet.

A new project led by Scott Diddams (Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering)鈥攁warded $1M award from the W.M. Keck Foundation鈥攚ill explore the feasibility of creating a frequency comb detector to synchronize the world鈥檚 existing infrared telescopes and make them more precise.

Scientists on a new project led by CU Boulder will develop 鈥渨orlds in a box鈥� to study the conditions that might make far away planets habitable. The research team鈥攑art of NASA鈥檚 Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (ICAR) program鈥攚ill be led David Brain (LASP, Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences).

A new laboratory for a plasma wind tunnel is taking shape at the Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building. The project, the vision of Assistant Professor Hisham Ali, will allow his team to study the conditions of atmospheric reentry, when a spacecraft returning to Earth can hit speeds of Mach 30.

A new program is helping Native American undergraduate students delve into astrophysics and more fully participate in scientific research that frequently happens on Indigenous lands. The NSF-supported program is a partnership between CU Boulder and Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.

As part of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav), CU Boulder postdoc Joseph Simon is searching for a phenomenon known as the 鈥済ravitational wave background鈥�: giant ripples in space and time that owe their origins in part to supermassive black holes.

NASA鈥檚 James Webb Space Telescope will soon get a new 鈥渟idekick鈥濃�攁 small but nimble satellite called MANTIS, which will be designed and built at LASP. Like that undersea animal, the spacecraft (about the size of a toaster oven) will be able to observe the night sky in the full range of UV light.

Allie Anderson and Torin Clark at CU Boulder are conducting research into how humans and artificial intelligence systems work together. The pair are part of a multi-university research team commissioned by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to study trust in autonomous systems鈥攁n important and complex problem.

鈥淚t was truly inspiring to speak with the next generation of space scientists and engineers at CU Boulder," said Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "The power of education at learning institutions like CU Boulder provide the necessary tools to make big dreams a reality and keep our nation a global leader in space exploration and innovation.鈥�