LPL Spotlight Stories

Dr. Sukrit Ranjan Joins LPL Faculty Starting Fall 2022
Sukrit's work is focused on the origin of life on Earth, the search for life on other worlds, and the atmospheres of rocky exoplanets. He applies photochemistry to questions related to the origin of life on Earth and the search for life on other worlds.

NASA Deputy Administrator: UArizona a 'Crown Jewel' for the US
During a visit to campus, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy discussed some of the space agency's most ambitious and impactful space missions with the UArizona scientists who pursue them.

Planetary Science Decadal Survey Prioritizes UArizona-led Planetary Defense Mission
A new decadal survey from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends NASA fully support NEO Surveyor, a space-based survey designed to discover and measure asteroids and comets that could pose an impact hazard to Earth. Amy Mainzer, a professor of planetary sciences, leads the effort.

Dr. Kathryn Volk, Vera Rubin Early Career Prize Winner
LPL Research Scientist Dr. Kathryn Volk has been named the recipient of the Vera Rubin Early Career Prize, which recognizes an early career dynamicist who demonstrates excellence in scientific research in dynamical astronomy. Dr. Volk received her Ph.D. from LPL in 2013.

NASA Gives Green Light for OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft to Visit Another Asteroid
The extended mission, dubbed OSIRIS-APEX, will study the near-Earth asteroid Apophis, which will have a close encounter with Earth in 2029.

Small but Mighty: How UArizona Professors are Harnessing the Power of Algae to Capture Carbon
An astrobiologist, an engineer and an ecologist have teamed up to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

Dr. Tyler Robinson Joins LPL Faculty Starting Fall 2022
Ty conducts theoretical studies of the atmospheres of extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs and has made major contributions to the planning for the next NASA great observatories. He has had great success in building diverse research groups.

UArizona to Help NASA Understand Solar Wind and Plasma With HelioSwarm Mission
Most visible matter in the universe exists as plasma, and NASA has funded a new mission to study this state of matter that's rarely found on Earth.

UArizona Students Confirm Errant Rocket's Chinese Origin, Track Lunar Collision Course
Students studying the object's composition confirmed that it is most likely a Chinese booster and not a SpaceX booster, as previously reported.

$7.5M Effort Seeks to Prevent Lunar Traffic Jams
University of Arizona researchers are developing ways to detect, characterize and track objects in cislunar space, or the space between Earth and the moon.