Students from the University of Michigan Department of Aerospace Engineering, were featured in the Sun Times News about their visit to Symons Elementary School in Milan, MI. The article was titled “Flight, Space and Rockets Pay a Visit to a School in Milan.” | February 28, 2025
“U-M Department of Astronomy’s First Satellite Launch Could Pave the Way for Exoplanet Discoveries”
In an article for The Michigan Daily, Dr. John Monnier, a professor at the University of Michigan Department of Astronomy, talks about the STARI Mission and how interferometers in space could allow scientists to study exoplanets in greater detail than they are currently able with existing technology. He was interviewed in the article “U-M Continue Reading »
U-M Awarded up to $7.5M to Bring Heat-Tolerant Semiconductors From Lab to Fab
Heat-resistant sensing and computing chips made of silicon carbide could advance aircraft, electric and gas-powered vehicles, renewable energy, defense and space exploration—and University of Michigan researchers are leading a multimillion dollar collaborative effort to bring more of them to market.
Funded by the Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons Hub, the project is launching with $2.4 million in initial funding, and could receive up to $7.5 million over three years.
“U-M Department of Astronomy Prepares its First NASA Mission”
In an article for WEMU.org, Dr. John Monnier, a professor at the University of Michigan Department of Astronomy, talks about the STARI Mission and how it should make the study of planets out of our solar system less expensive. He was interviewed in the article “U-M Department of Astronomy Prepares its First NASA Mission Continue Reading »
U-M Astronomy Will Lead Its First Satellite Mission With NASA Grant
The first space mission led by the University of Michigan Department of Astronomy is scheduled to launch in 2029 with the support of a NASA grant worth $10 million. The mission is called STARI—STarlight Acquisition and Reflection toward Interferometry—and will showcase the viability of a new technique for studying exoplanets, or planets outside of our solar system.
Witnessing the Birth of Planets
University of Michigan researchers contributed to an international collaboration that’s providing an unparalleled view into how planets are born using the JWST—the most powerful space telescope ever launched.
In particular, the team studied PDS 70, a young star with two growing planets in its orbit. Located 370 lightyears away, this system gives scientists a rare chance to see how planets form and evolve during their earliest stages of development.
Leinweber Lab Becomes Design Hub for Moon Garden Equipment
If you walk by the new Leinweber Innovation Lab inside the Climate & Space Research Building on a Wednesday evening, you might notice the BLiSS student team hard at work in each of the lab’s studios. There, members of their subteams are working in parallel to design tools that could help solve challenges in NASA’s future Artemis missions to the moon.
The lab’s four open studio spaces were the perfect fit for the BLiSS student team to help future moon missions.
A Vision for Safer Space Exploration with the CLEAR Center
The CLEAR Center, a Space Weather Center of Excellence at the University of Michigan, works to improve forecasting of solar energetic particles that emerge from a solar eruption, with speeds nearly reaching the speed of light, which follow the spiral shape of the solar wind’s magnetic fields into interplanetary space.
Getting the Most Out of Cosmic Maps
Research led by the University of Michigan could help put cosmology on the inside track to reaching the full potential of telescopes and other instruments studying some of the universe’s largest looming questions.
The project showcased how a new computational method gleans more information than its predecessors from maps showing how galaxies are clustered and threaded throughout the universe.
Scientists are currently using tools like DESI, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, to generate these maps and dig deeper into the nature of dark energy, dark matter and other cosmic mysteries.
Light, Flexible and Radiation-Resistant: Organic Solar Cells for Space
Radiation testing suggests that solar cells made from carbon-based, or organic, materials could outperform conventional silicon and gallium arsenide for generating electricity in the final frontier, a study from the University of Michigan suggests.