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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will soon get a new “sidekick”—a small but nimble satellite called MANTIS, which will be designed and built at LASP. Like that undersea animal, the spacecraft (about the size of a toaster oven) will be able to observe the night sky in the full range of UV light.

Allie Anderson and Torin Clark at ���������� Boulder are conducting research into how humans and artificial intelligence systems work together. The pair are part of a multi-university research team commissioned by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to study trust in autonomous systems—an important and complex problem.

“It was truly inspiring to speak with the next generation of space scientists and engineers at ���������� Boulder," said Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "The power of education at learning institutions like ���������� Boulder provide the necessary tools to make big dreams a reality and keep our nation a global leader in space exploration and innovation.”

Since its genesis, LASP has been instrumental in positioning the university as a hub for the state’s aerospace and defense economy, the largest per capita in the nation. This leadership will continue this week, when representatives from LASP and other ���������� affiliates participate in the 38th annual Space Symposium.

Space research first began at ���������� Boulder in 1948, when an Air Force research lab contracted with the Department of Physics to study the Sun by launching instruments mounted on surplus WWII rockets. Fast forward to the present, and LASP, which has grown to about 700 employees, is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

A multi-university research team, including engineers and physicists from ���������� Boulder and NIST, will build technology and tools to improve measurement of important climate factors by observing atoms in outer space. The new Quantum Pathways Institute is led by the University of Texas at Austin.

The student team's Drone Recharging Operational Payload System (DROPS) received top honors at SciTech. The autonomous cargo delivery system, designed for uncrewed aerial vehicles, is capable of dropping off and picking up drone cargo without the need for human intervention.

“In these cold molecular clouds, you’re creating the first building blocks that will, in the end, form stars and planets,” said Jordy Bouwman, research associate at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at ���������� Boulder.

The U.S. military shot down what officials have called a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, 2023. Iain Boyd, professor of aerospace engineering sciences, explains how the balloons work and what they can see. Read it on The Conversation.

A new NASA report shows that ���������� Boulder is the top university recipient of NASA astrophysics technology grants. The majority of this funding was granted to researchers at LASP and the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy (CASA), a center affiliated with the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences.