Kick-Off Meeting Held for the $35M U-M SPAR Institute
The five-year, $35M Space Power and Propulsion for Agility, Responsiveness and Resilience (SPAR) Institute held its official kick-off meeting on December 4, 2024.
Category: University of Michigan Space Institute
New DESI Results Weigh in on Gravity
A new study using data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI, has traced how this cosmic structure grew over the past 11 billion years, providing the most precise test to date of gravity at very large scales.
A New Look at Voyager 2 Data Explains One of Uranus’s Long-Standing Mysteries
The new analysis of the Voyager 2 data revealed that the odd magnetic field was caused by a rare event. Just before the spacecraft reached Uranus, the planet’s magnetic field had likely been squashed by a jet of unusually dense solar wind, as evidenced by a steady increase in solar wind pressure leading up to Voyager 2’s encounter with Uranus.
NASA AACES Initiative Calls on Electra Partnership with U-M
Electra.aero, Inc. has been awarded the first contract from NASA’s Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability (AACES) 2050 initiative. The award will look to Electra to develop technologies for reduced carbon emissions in commercial airliners while working alongside the University of Michigan.
Seeing a Black Hole’s Jet in a New Light
By Matt Davenport, Originally published by VP for Communications-Michigan News
Research led by the University of Michigan has pored over more than two decades’ worth of data from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory to show there’s new knotty science to discover around black holes.
In particular, the study looks at the high-energy jet of particles being Continue Reading »
U-M Space Institute Supports Space Medicine at ResearchPalooza and Wins Service Award
The University of Michigan Space Institute participated at ResearchPalooza in September on the University of Michigan Medical School campus. During the event, experts from the U-M Space Institute raised awareness of existing opportunities for students, faculty, and university partners to engage in space medicine research and education.
Space Force Establishes $35M Institute for Versatile Propulsion and Power at U-M
To develop spacecraft that can “maneuver without regret,” the U.S. Space Force is providing $35 million to a national research team led by the University of Michigan. It will be the first to bring fast chemical rockets together with efficient electric propulsion powered by a nuclear microreactor.
Could One of Jupiter’s Moons Support Alien Life? U-M Scientists Are on the Case
NASA’s Europa Clipper, the organization’s latest mission to Jupiter’s system of moons, launched from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. It’s the start of a grand journey to Europa, a moon that scientists believe has a salty ocean of water beneath its icy outer surface. When the spacecraft reaches its target in 2031, it will start collecting the data necessary for University of Michigan researchers to help determine whether the ocean could support life.
JWST Finds First Exotic ‘Steam World’ Shrouded in Water Vapor
Nearly 100 light years away, there’s a planet unlike any we’ve seen before. The planet, known as GJ 9827 d, is roughly twice the size of Earth and has an atmosphere composed almost entirely of water vapor, according to a new study.
CLAWS Student Member Shares Lessons from the NASA Suits Challenge
The University of Michigan Collaborative Lab for Advancing Work in Space (CLAWS), a multidisciplinary student group that designs technology for human space exploration, participated in the NASA SUITS Challenge in May at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Matthew Hart, a Michigan student and member of CLAWS, participated in this year’s NASA Suits Challenge.