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Illustration shows NASA's Lucy spacecraft visiting multiple asteroids during a 12 year mission.

Why asteroids are the hottest objects for exploration in the solar system

Osiris REx is among a group of spacecraft aimed at discovering new information about space rocks.
Illustration of NASA's Psyche spacecraft approaching the asteroid 16 Psyche in 2029.

Launch date approaches for long-awaited mission to a metal-marked asteroid

NASA's Psyche spacecraft has ASU ties.
Rocks collected from the Moon by astronauts on the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions. The rocks are on display in the Lunar Lab at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Latest race to the moon sparks interest for Arizona lunar scientists

They say the next exploration missions will focus on detecting and collecting natural resources.
Mission medical officer Eiman Jahangir enters the Space Analog for the Moon and Mars as mission communications officer and accessibility officer Sheri Wells-Jensen walks up to the habitat at Biosphere 2 in north Tucson on Thursday, April 27, 2023. Jahangir is a two-time NASA astronaut candidate finalist.

Four-person crew sealed into pressurized habitat to learn about space living

The crew will be locked in for six days.
Illustration shows the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule upon landing in the Utah desert.

OSIRIS-REx zeroes in on September return to Earth

The space explorer will drop off a capsule containing material collected from Bennu.
Artist's illustration of the 16 Psyche asteroid.

ASU scientist prepares to run first-ever planetary mission to a metal world

16 Psyche robotic spacecraft is scheduled to launch later this year.
Artist’s conception of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collecting a sample from the asteroid Bennu.

NASA grants UA space facility $3,000,000

The funding will support researchers' search for clues from the earliest days of the solar system
NASA illustration of cubesats in orbit.

UA students prepare to put their own cubesat into space

The cereal box-sized "CatSat" will transmit data to UA's Biosphere 2.
Photograph from the lunar surface shows Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt.

UA scientists still learning from Apollo 17 rocks 50 years ago

University of Arizona lunar scientists are still discovering details from the last manned moon mission's rocks.

OSIRIS APEX

OSIRIS APEX is a new name for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, to accompany its new mission to explore the near-Earth asteroid Apophis.
An illustration of a World View balloon above the Earth.

Out of this world: space tourism expected to launch in 2024

World View, based in Tucson, is now in their preliminary design stage.

Space Robots

A robotics lab at the University of Arizona is developing swarms of autonomous space robots capable of constructing bases and mining for resources on other celestial bodies like the Moon.
Image from James Webb Space Telescope

James Webb Telescope scientists dive into interstellar study

Astronomers are beginning to settle into a routine of regular research assignments.
Illustration of a proposed Mars glider.

University of Arizona researchers testing ideas for lightweight Mars glider

It would coast through the Martian skies far from landers and rovers on the surface.
A collage of images representing 50+ years of "Star Trek" on television.

Has "Star Trek" changed the world? Author Ryan Britt examines a legacy lasting 50 years... and beyond.

Also on Arizona Spotlight: How A Tucson woman made a life-changing transformation through art.
Apollo 16 lunar exploration, April 1972.

Tucson-based scientists giving moon rocks a second look

NASA's Apollo 16 crew originally collected the samples 50 years ago.

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