LPL’s Mission
The Department of Planetary Sciences/Lunar and Planetary Laboratory is an academic institution that pursues scholarly research and education across the broad discipline of planetary and solar systems science through use of theoretical studies and data analysis, laboratory and field investigations, numerical modeling, telescopic observations, remote sensing, spacecraft instrumentation, and space mission development and operations.
Message from the Director
Welcome to the University of Arizona’s Department of Planetary Sciences (PtyS) and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL). The University of Arizona is one of the nation’s best research universities, annually ranking among the top in the nation in external financial support for research in the physical sciences.
Focus on Research
Kepler's laws of planetary motion turn out to be far from the last word on planetary orbits. Orbits change over time, some changes are slow and periodic, others are chaotic and dramatic; these determine the architecture of planetary systems. In orbital dynamics research, we seek to discover the past and future of planetary systems - the diverse effects of gravity that shape where and how planets form and how their orbits evolve in time. We study the orbital evolution of planetary and satellite systems, and small bodies (asteroids and comets), as well as interplanetary dust, in the solar system and in exo-planetary systems.
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