Explore Planetary and
Solar Systems Science at LPL

Welcome to the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory

Learn more about LPL

Hold the Date

All Day, June 19, 2024

Juneteenth - University Holiday

All Day, July 4, 2024

Independence Day observed - no classes

All Day, July 28 to Aug. 2, 2024

July 28-August 2: 86th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society

Academic Programs at LPL

Interdisciplinary coursework, access to world-class instruments and laboratories, and diverse research opportunities.

Learn about Graduate Admission

Graduate Program

LPL offers multidisciplinary programs leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree with a major in Planetary Sciences. The department also administers graduate minors in both Planetary Sciences and Astrobiology.

Undergraduate Minors

The Department of Planetary Sciences offers undergraduate minors in Planetary Sciences, Astrobiology, and Astronomy Studies.

Planetary Geosciences Major

The Planetary Geoscience major establishes core knowledge and skills through a set of geoscience courses; advances through upper-level planetary science classes; and culminates in a capstone research or field experience.

Research Focus Areas

Pursuing interdisciplinary research spanning the breadth and depth of planetary science.

View All Research Areas

Spacecraft Missions and Instrumentation

Exploring the Universe as investigators on spacecraft mission and instrumentation teams.

View All Current Missions

LPL in the Spotlight

Artist’s impression of a young star surrounded by a rotating disk of gas and dust.

Webb Telescope Finds Plethora of Carbon Molecules Around Young Star

An international team of astronomers, including University of Arizona scientists, has used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to study the disk of gas and dust around a young, very low-mass star.

An oblique view focusing on one of the vast lava flows in Elysium Planitia

Recent Volcanism on Mars Reveals a Planet More Active than Previously Thought

University of Arizona researchers reconstructed lava flows from spacecraft images and radar to better understand Mars' surprisingly turbulent history.

OSIRIS-APEX pursues asteroid Apophis during its exceptionally close flyby of Earth on April 13, 2029.

OSIRIS-REx Flies on as OSIRIS-APEX to Explore a Second Asteroid

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission learned much about the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu and its risk to Earth. Now, the mission will change hands and target a different kind of potentially hazardous asteroid, Apophis.