July 6, 2023 OSIRIS-REx team members practice recovering asteroid sample capsule bound for Earth Everything must go smoothly when the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft releases its capsule full of pristine asteroid material over the Utah desert in September. Members of the mission team gathered at Lockheed Martin in Colorado to rehearse recovering the capsule and its precious cargo.
June 13, 2023 Pass the salt: This space rock holds clues as to how Earth got its water The discovery of tiny salt grains in a sample from an asteroid provides strong evidence that liquid water may be more common in the solar system's largest asteroid population than previously thought.
May 24, 2023 NASA honors UArizona Regents Professors, alumna for contributions to space exploration and astronomy Regents Professors Marcia and George Rieke and UArizona alumna Jane Rigby were recognized for their accomplishments in astronomy and key contributions to the James Webb Space Telescope.
May 16, 2023 Astronomers want your help hunting for asteroids Scientists at the UArizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory have created an online portal that allows members of the public to help discover asteroids hurtling through our solar system.
April 19, 2023 100 years ago, 'telescope of huge size' launched UArizona's leading role in astronomy On April 23, 1923, the university celebrated a new, 36-inch telescope that would kick off major astronomical research. Steward Observatory will be rededicated this weekend in honor of its 100-year anniversary.
April 14, 2023 Icy moonquakes: Surface shaking could trigger landslides Many of the ice-encrusted moons orbiting the giant planets in the far reaches of our solar system are known to be geologically active. Quakes could be the source of the mysteriously smooth terrain on the moons circling Jupiter and Saturn, according to a new study led by a UArizona graduate student.
March 24, 2023 6 months to go until historic asteroid sample delivery NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is cruising back to Earth with the sample it collected from asteroid Bennu's rocky surface in 2020. When the sample capsule parachutes down into the Utah desert on Sept. 24, the UArizona-led OSIRIS-REx mission will become the first U.S. mission to return an asteroid sample to Earth.
March 24, 2023 UArizona students track asteroid set to whiz by Earth this weekend As a sizable asteroid makes a close pass by Earth, a team of UArizona students is ready to observe the action to practice and test procedures that could be useful in mitigating an impending asteroid impact in the future.
March 15, 2023 3D radar scan provides clues about threats to iconic Alaskan glacier Mapping a large coastal glacier in Alaska revealed that its bulk sits below sea level and is undercut by channels, making it vulnerable to accelerated melting in an already deteriorating coastal habitat.
March 1, 2023 Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumb trick inspires robotic exploration of caves on Mars and beyond Future space missions likely will send robots to scout out underground habitats for astronauts. UArizona engineers have developed a system that would allow autonomous vehicles to explore caves, lava tubes and even oceans on other worlds.
