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
Planetary Materials are those pieces of condensed matter that were leftover from the time that our solar system formed over 4.5 billion years ago. Current emphasis is on determining the structure of materials at the atomic scale using transmission electron microscopy. In addition, we are pursuing instrumentation to analyze samples that will be brought back from asteroids and other Solar System bodies in the 2020s.