Professors from U-M Law and U-M Aerospace Co-Instruct Course on Removing Space Debris

PSI
The Problem Solving Initiative (PSI) course series, where students from a variety of academic backgrounds come together and learn how to collaborate and solve problems, recently drew its latest iteration to a close with an end-of-semester presentation and forum. This semester’s PSI was co-taught by U-M Law School Professor Donald Moore and U-M Aerospace Engineering Assistant Professor Oliver Jia-Richards and covered the topic of how to handle and remove debris from space.

Alumna Aisha Bowe Ready to Launch on Historic All-Women Space Flight

Aisha Bowe in Museum
Aisha Bowe, an alumna from Michigan Aerospace, is set to board the first-ever all-women Blue Origin flight, scheduled to launch on April 14, 2025. This historic flight will be Blue Origin’s 11th human space mission that will cross the Kármán line – the internationally recognized boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, 62 miles (100 km) above Earth.

New FireSat Set to Transform Wildfire Detection and Response

Chris Ruf with students
The first prototype of the FireSat constellation launched into low-Earth orbit in March, paving the way for a large network of satellites that will help enhance wildfire detection, mitigation and response around the world. The entire constellation will eventually consist of 50 satellites that will use infrared cameras to detect and track wildfires from space. They will also use a next-generation Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) receiver that can measure soil and vegetation moisture based on how the surface reflects GPS microwaves, harnessing signals already bouncing off the Earth from navigation satellites.

Small, Faint and ‘Unexpected in a Lot of Different Ways’: U-M Astronomers Make Galactic Discovery

galaxy
A discovery made by a team led by researchers at the University of Michigan tugs at the seams of some key cosmic lessons we thought we had learned from our own galaxy. This dwarf galaxy, named Andromeda XXXV and located roughly 3 million light-years away, is forcing astronomers to rethink how galaxies evolve in different cosmic environments and survive different epochs of the universe.