Space

Astronaut Sarah Gillis is the First to Play Violin in Space

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 20:29:29 +0000

Astronaut Sarah Gillis is the First to Play Violin in Space Anna Tolette Mon, 03/10/2025 - 14:29

Christie Sounart

At more than 870 miles above Earth, this was no ordinary violin recital.

On Sept. 13, 2024, Sarah Gillis (AeroEngr’17) played “Rey’s Theme” from Star Wars: The Force Awakens by legendary composer John Williams — from a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. As she played, Gillis firmly pressed her violin to her shoulder with her chin as she floated around the zero-gravity chamber, her hair flowing wildly.

Gillis’ three astronaut crewmembers filmed the inaugural performance as part of the Polaris Program’s Polaris Dawn mission, then transmitted the video to Earth via Starlink, a laser-based satellite communication.

Polaris Dawn posted the video, “Harmony of Resilience,” on X that day as part of a partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and El Sistema USA, which supports American music education programs. The video included Gillis’ performance and clips from orchestras playing the same piece in Los Angeles, Boston, Haiti, Sweden, Brazil, Uganda and Venezuela.

“The whole music moment was meant to inspire and show what’s possible when you can bring the world together,” Gillis said in an interview two months after returning to Earth.

“The whole music moment was meant to inspire and show what’s possible when you can bring the world together.”

Gillis reflected on the months of preparation for the performance, which included having engineers completely reconstruct her violin to survive the harsh space environment, and meeting Williams himself at the Los Angeles recording session.

“That was probably more stressful than actually going to space, if I’m completely honest,” said Gillis, who does not play violin professionally. “I was so nervous that he would show up and say, ‘No, you don’t have the rights to use this anymore.’ And instead he was so kind and supportive.”

From Training Astronauts to Becoming One

Gillis first gained interest in space as a high school student at �鶹ӰԺ’s Shining Mountain Waldorf School, where she attended a CU �鶹ӰԺ space for nonmajors course with her brother David Levine (FilmSt, Hist’13) and met former CU instructor and NASA astronaut Joe Tanner. Tanner helped Gillis with a space-related project she had for school, and he encouraged her to consider engineering at CU �鶹ӰԺ.

“He really planted that seed,” she said. “I honestly don’t know that I would’ve considered engineering if that hadn’t happened.”

After Gillis returned to Earth, Tanner — who flew on four NASA space shuttle flights from 1994 to 2006 — was eager to swap space stories with her.

“Being a friend to Sarah was perhaps my greatest joy during my eight years at CU,” said Tanner. “I may have helped open a few doors for her, but she made everything happen. I couldn’t be more proud of her, even if she were my own daughter.”

During her junior year at CU, Gillis took an internship at SpaceX that lasted more than two years. She helped develop and test displays and interfaces on the interior of the company’s Dragon spacecraft, the first private spacecraft to take humans to and from the International Space Station.

“I got to see some of those design decisions in space on my mission,” she said. She joined SpaceX full time in August 2017 as a space operations engineer, training astronauts on the interfaces she’d already worked on.

Several years later, her boss called a surprise meeting with her. Jared Isaacman, Polaris Dawn’s mission commander, was there to invite her to become part of the crew as a mission specialist, joining himself, Scott Poteet (mission pilot) and Anna Menon (medical officer and mission specialist).

“My response was, ‘Hell yes, but I’ll need to talk to some people first,” she said. “I immediately walked out of the room and straight downstairs to my husband, who worked at SpaceX with me. He had his headphones on at his desk. I tapped him on the shoulder and said, ‘I need to talk to you.’ … It was very special to share that exciting news.”

Five Record-Breaking Days

Two and a half years later, on Sept. 10, 2024, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched the crew aboard a Dragon spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. One of the crew’s main objectives on the mission was to conduct research to help better understand the human effects of space flight and space radiation. This included the first spacewalk from Dragon.

On the third day of the mission, Gillis and Isaacman exited the spacecraft in SpaceX’s newly designed and developed extravehicular activity spacesuits. For 10 minutes, she tested different components of the suit and became, at 30 years old, the youngest astronaut to complete a spacewalk.

When asked to describe the feat in one word, she settled on “dark.”

“I was emerging into the total blackness of space. It’s this immense void where you realize how close to Earth we are and how much is still left to explore out there, but it’s also this overwhelming dark blanket that is surrounding you.”

"It’s this immense void where you realize how close to Earth we are and how much is still left to explore out there."

The next day was her violin performance, which was planned to test the connectivity of SpaceX’s Starlink laser-based internet from space. The data may help improve communications for future missions to the Moon and Mars.

The crew also conducted other experiments — including gathering data on space radiation — that could help advance human health for future long-duration space flights.

Gillis noted one surprising aspect of being in space she hadn’t prepared for: how easily things got lost without the presence of gravity.

“It was always a constant treasure hunt of, ‘Has anybody seen this? Has anybody seen that?’” she said, adding that a missing camera SD card was found in the spacecraft weeks after landing. “You’d stick something with Velcro, then turn around and it would be gone.”

The historic mission lasted five days and ended with a successful splashdown off the coast of Florida.

“I hope that it is inspiring to people to see what the future of human spaceflight could be and where we’re going — that it is a possibility that more and more people are going to go to space.”

“I hope that it is inspiring to people to see what the future of human spaceflight could be and where we’re going — that it is a possibility that more and more people are going to go to space,” Gillis said.

The Next Step

Gillis’ husband, Lewis Gillis (Aero Engr’17; MS’17), formerly a SpaceX senior propulsion engineer, reflected on his wife’s extraordinary career to date when the couple visited campus this past November.

“With some curiosity and passion and connecting to all the humans around her, Sarah’s made it quite a long way,” he said. “I’m excited to see what she builds next and who she meets along the way.”

Gillis said she would reconsider another spaceflight if given the opportunity, but she is eager for others to experience space first. She remains in her astronaut training position at SpaceX.

Reflecting on her historic mission, she said: “I think the more people we can get into space to see the world from that perspective, the better off humanity will be.

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Photo by Glenn Asakawa; Polaris Dawn Crew (violin)

SpaceX's Sarah Gillis made history by becoming the youngest astronaut to complete a spacewalk and perform the first violin recital in space.

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Spring 2025

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News Briefs from CU �鶹ӰԺ

Julia Maclean — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 19:10:15 +0000

News Briefs from CU �鶹ӰԺ Julia Maclean Mon, 03/10/2025 - 13:10

Heard Around Campus

“Coach Mac was an incredible man who taught me about the importance of faith, family and being a good husband, father and grandfather.”

– CU �鶹ӰԺ Athletic Director Rick George after the death of Bill McCartney on Jan.10, 2025. Coach Mac was among the most successful head coaches in all sports in CU �鶹ӰԺ’s 135-year athletic history.

Incarcerated at Risk in Climate Disasters

U.S. prisons are unprepared to safeguard the incarcerated from extreme heat, floods and other climate-related threats, according to a CU study with accounts from nearly three dozen formerly incarcerated people. Researchers found that vulnerabilities in infrastructure, insufficient emergency protocols and lack of oversight leave inmates at heightened risk during disasters. The team hopes their study will inspire more research around climate change adaptation, mitigation and prevention while also considering the voices of incarcerated people.

CU Buys Shuttered Louisville Movie Theater

CU �鶹ӰԺ purchased the 8.85-acre Louisville property that housed the Regal Cinebarre movie theater, which closed last May. The site, purchased for $10 million, is intended for a mixed-use, transit-oriented development that includes university housing. The property is seven miles from campus.

New Quantum Facility in �鶹ӰԺ

CU �鶹ӰԺ is spearheading and providing leadership and resources to a new 13,000-square-foot quantum facility in east �鶹ӰԺ. The effort is in partnership with Colorado State University, Colorado School of Mines and Elevate Quantum, a tech hub with a coalition of 120 organizations. The facility will include collaborative office space for early-stage quantum companies and state-of-the-art scientific equipment.

Digits: Europa Instrument

The Surface Dust Analyzer, designed and built by the CU �鶹ӰԺ Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics team, launched to Jupiter’s Europa moon aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft to collect data that may determine whether the moon has conditions that could support life.

Years to get to Europa

35 pounds

Weight of CU apparatus

$53 million

Instrument’s cost

16 miles

How close Europa Clipper will be to the moon’s surface

~1.9B

Number of miles Europa Clipper will travel across the solar system

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Climate risks for incarcerated individuals, a new CU development in Louisville, a cutting-edge quantum facility and the legacy of Coach Bill McCartney.

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Mining the Moon: A New Era of Commercial Space Exploration

Anna Tolette — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 20:49:47 +0000

Mining the Moon: A New Era of Commercial Space Exploration Anna Tolette Tue, 11/12/2024 - 13:49

Kelsey Yandura

Elizabeth Frank (PhDGeol’14) is helping pave the way for a new era of space exploration and commerce as the chief scientist at Interlune, a Seattle-based startup aiming to become the first private company to harvest the Moon’s natural resources, namely the stable isotope helium-3.

This useful gas, while rare on Earth, is abundant on the Moon and sought after for its uses in medical imaging, nuclear fusion research, quantum computing and more. For the extraction and transportation of the isotope, Interlune plans to build a lunar harvester that the company would fly via spacecraft to the Moon.

What is the vision in terms of the future of space mining and space commerce?

We are trying to find novel ways to leverage the commercial space sector for planetary exploration. What makes people excited about Interlune is that even though we have this vision that seems kind of sci-fi, we have actual customers on Earth in areas like quantum computing, medical imaging and national security. There is an actual demand.

Your PhD was in planetary geochemistry at CU. What led you to �鶹ӰԺ?

There’s an incredible space community in �鶹ӰԺ — a lot of interdisciplinary work among CU departments and organizations like LASP and the Southwest Research Institute. When I was touring CU, I was handed a list of planetary scientists in �鶹ӰԺ that was upwards of 50 people. I thought, “Oh my gosh, there’s just so much going on.”

Your work seems to challenge the idea that industries exist in a silo. Can you talk more about your multidisciplinary approach?

When you’re a PhD student, you are expected to be a specialist. But I don’t actually identify anymore as a specialist. I’m a generalist — I have a PhD in planetary geochemistry, but I’ve also worked in spacecraft engineering, mining consulting, business development and more. To move humanity forward, you need people like me to stitch the specialists’ work together in new and exciting ways.

What topics in the field have been piquing your interest these days?

Ethics and sustainability are really top of mind. The mining industry has a long legacy of harming both people and the environment. I think that we can learn from the mistakes of the past. We want to be intentional and thoughtful about how we use technology and extract space resources for human use.

Any thoughts or advice for recent graduates?

I think PhD students and graduates should know that just because you got your degree in one topic, doesn’t mean you have to stay in that field. You can redirect your career in unexpected and exciting ways. Stay open to opportunities and take them — you never know where they’ll lead you.

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Photo courtesy Elizabeth Frank

Elizabeth Frank (PhDGeol’14) is helping pave the way for a new era of space exploration and commerce as the chief scientist at Interlune, a Seattle-based startup aiming to become the first private company to harvest the Moon’s natural resources.

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75 Years of LASP: Missions Across the Cosmos

Anna Tolette — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 17:18:56 +0000

75 Years of LASP: Missions Across the Cosmos Anna Tolette Tue, 11/12/2024 - 10:18

Kelsey Yandura

CU’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) is the university’s first and highest-budget research institute — and the only organization of its kind to have sent scientific instruments to every planet in our solar system, plus the sun and a host of moons.

Founded in 1948 as a collaboration between the U.S. Air Force and the university’s physics department, LASP’s initial experiments included launching instruments mounted on captured German V-2 rockets in order to study the sun. Today, over 75 years later, the institute is made up of more than 100 research scientists who specialize in designing, building and operating spacecraft and spacecraft instruments.

As LASP looks ahead to the next 75 years, its dedication to innovation keeps it at the leading edge of space science. Here are just a few of the many missions LASP has helped propel forward.

Sun

2010–30

EVE on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory examines variations in the sun’s extreme ultraviolet light over time.

Mission Highlight: Recorded enormous solar 'tornadoes,' ultra-hot plasma plumes swirling above the sun’s surface.

Mercury

2004–15

LASP Spectrometer on NASA MESSENGER first detected magnesium in Mercury’s exosphere.

Mission Highlight: Confirmed the presence of ice deposits in permanently shadowed craters at Mercury’s poles.

Venus

1978–92

Ultraviolet Spectrometer on NASA’s Pioneer Venus Orbiter identified sulfur dioxide in the clouds, indicating potential volcanic activity.

Mission Highlight: Pinpointed the highest point on Venus — Maxwell Montes stands 10.8 km high.

Earth

Scheduled 2027

LASP radiometers on NASA Libera will record how much energy leaves our �鶹ӰԺ atmosphere on a day-by-day basis, providing crucial information about how Earth’s climate is evolving over time.

Moon

2013–14

Lunar Dust Experiment on NASA’s LADEE gathered and analyzed lunar dust particles.

Mission Highlight: Revealed tiny meteoroids deliver water to the Moon’s exosphere.

Mars

2013–14

Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph on NASA MAVEN discovered an aurora caused by proton precipitation in Mars’ atmosphere.

Mission Highlight: Determined that solar wind has significantly stripped Mars’ atmosphere, altering its climate from warm and wet to cold and dry.

Jupiter

1989–2003

Ultraviolet Spectrometer on NASA Galileo observed the impacts of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 fragments on Jupiter.

Mission Highlight: Found evidence of a subsurface ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa.

Saturn

1997–2017

Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph on NASA Cassini measured emissions from gases emitted by volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io.

Mission Highlight: Detected an icy plume of salt-rich organic chemicals erupting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

Uranus

1977–Current

Photopolarimeter Subsystem on NASA Voyager 2 discovered Uranus’ rings are younger than the solar system.

Mission Highlight: Identified an irregular magnetic field, highly tilted from Uranus’ spin axis.

Neptune

1977–Current

Photopolarimeter Subsystem on NASA Voyager 2 found Neptune’s rings are incomplete circles created by dust knocked off tiny moons.

Mission Highlight: Performed the first mission to fly past Neptune and detect its irregular magnetic field.

Pluto

2006–Current

Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter on NASA New Horizons was the first student-designed instrument to launch on an interplanetary mission.

Mission Highlight: Discovered the largest known glacier in the solar system.

And beyond…

LASP has been involved in missions beyond our solar system, including operations for NASA’s exoplanet-hunting Kepler mission and the IXPE mission, which studies extreme space environments.

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Images courtesy NASA

CU’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) is the university’s first and highest-budget research institute. Here are just a few of the many missions LASP has helped propel forward.

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Retired Astronaut Marsha Ivins Reflects on Her Time in Space

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Retired Astronaut Marsha Ivins Reflects on Her Time in Space Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 07/16/2024 - 00:00

Jessica Sachs

Marsha Ivins (AeroEngr’73) is a retired astronaut who has participated in five missions to space. Over the course of her career, Ivins spent a total of 55 days in space handling various responsibilities, from monitoring systems as a flight engineer to managing photography. This year, she was selected as a 2024 inductee for the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, one of the highest honors in the industry.

As a child, did you imagine life as an astronaut?

I have wanted to work in the space business in some capacity since I was 10 years old. Imagining opens the door to trying, and trying is step one in achieving. I wasn’t solely focused on just flying in space, although of course that was a dream. Everyone I knew, family, teachers and friends said it could never happen.

Of your career missions, are there any that you feel especially passionate about or regard as your favorite?

There is no such thing as a bad spaceflight. They all had shining moments for me.

Can you describe the feeling of looking out at the Earth for the first time from space?

I cannot adequately express the visceral feeling of realizing you are no longer on the planet. What you see is only a sliver of the feeling.

What were some of your career goals when you were studying aerospace engineering at CU �鶹ӰԺ?

NASA was not hiring astronauts when I graduated from college. I applied as an engineer to the Johnson Space Center (JSC), but 1974 was a severe downtime for aerospace engineers in all industries. I also applied for 27 other jobs around the country that were not hiring at the time. I was offered and accepted a job with Abbott Laboratories, and shortly after I got a call from the JSC saying I’d been offered an engineering position in a new class — which I then accepted.

How does it feel to be selected for the Astronaut Hall of Fame?

I am honored to have been considered and selected for induction. There have been 106 men and women inducted into the AHOF since 1990, covering the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs. It is overseen by the Astronaut Scholarship Fund which, to date, has given over $8 million in scholarships to more than 790 students in STEM fields at partner universities across the country.

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Photo courtesy Marsha Ivins

Marsha Ivins (AeroEngr’73) is a retired astronaut who has participated in five missions to space. This year, she was selected as a 2024 inductee for the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, one of the highest honors in the industry.

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Campus News Briefs: Spring 2024

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Campus News Briefs: Spring 2024 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 00:00

Consistent Yoga for Good Health

A CU �鶹ӰԺ study found yoga to be very beneficial to those who practice it — when done regularly. The study, which examined both typical yoga classes and those with only stretching, found the benefits of better emotion regulation, self-control, distress tolerance and mindfulness lasted about a week after either type of class. “One yoga class is not enough to reap long-term health benefits,” CU �鶹ӰԺ Institute of Behavioral Science research associate Charleen Gust told The Denver Post. Researchers hope further study will determine how often people must practice to experience benefits.

Study Abroad Hits Record Number

This spring, the number of CU students studying abroad exceeded the record-setting 900 students studying abroad at the onset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. Nearly 1,200 students were enrolled to study abroad this spring, with Western Europe serving as the most popular destination. CU �鶹ӰԺ’s study abroad program is ranked 15th-largest in the nation

CU Economist Tackles English Mystery

From 1761 to 1834 the mortality rate of English people dropped from 28 to 25 per 1,000 people, a statistic that has confused historians due to the population influx around that time. “With people coming into cities to work, you would expect, given the level of sanitation they have, that the big killer is water,” CU �鶹ӰԺ economics professor Fransica Antman told the BBC in December. Antman authored a study linking the change to the rise in tea consumption. In 1784, the tea tax went from 119% to 12.5%, boosting tea consumption. Boiling the water when making tea, Antman explained, killed off the bacteria that was prevalent in drinking water at the time, thus saving lives. In her study, Antman examined the quality of water sources for about 400 parishes in England and determined that the death rate declined even in those parishes with poor water quality due to the high prevalence of tea.

Heard Around Campus

“CU naturally attracts really outstanding leaders.”

— Stefanie Johnson, director of the Center for Leadership, told the Daily Camera in January after Time magazine and Statista named CU �鶹ӰԺ one of the top 100 best colleges for future leaders.

Digits: 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

4/8

Date of eclipse

11:28 a.m.

Time solar eclipse appears in �鶹ӰԺ

1,500

Children participating in Fiske’s eclipse outreach program

U.S. states will experience total solar eclipse

Fiske Planetarium films related to the total eclipse

7,500

Public and K-12 visitors watched the planetarium’s eclipse films from May 2023 to January 2024

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Photos and illustrations courtesy Pixabay

Solar eclipse, benefits of yoga, historical research on tea and more.

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Spring 2024

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Riding Along on a Historic Asteroid Mission

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Riding Along on a Historic Asteroid Mission Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/06/2023 - 00:00

Dan Strain

On Sept. 24, 2023, a space capsule about the size of a used tire landed in a patch of Utah desert not far from Salt Lake City. Aboard was a tiny chunk of an alien world — roughly half a pound of rocks from an asteroid called Bennu.

This “sample return” was the culmination of one phase of a NASA mission called OSIRIS-REx. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft launched in 2016, beginning a seven-year journey to study and even pick up a piece of Bennu — which is about as tall as the Empire State Building and shaped a bit like a spinning top.

Researchers at CU �鶹ӰԺ were along for the ride. Daniel Scheeres, distinguished professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, led a team that used the spacecraft’s navigational instruments to peer deep inside the asteroid. The group’s research data is opening a new window into the dawn of the solar system billions of years ago.

Among other things, the researchers — which included four graduate students — discovered that Bennu’s interior may be much less dense than its outer layers — like a créme-filled chocolate egg in space.

As for the sample of Bennu, Paul Sánchez, senior research associate of aerospace engineering, will help analyze that treasure. He’ll explore how tiny grains of rocky material can hold themselves together to form a massive space behemoth like Bennu.

“We were hoping to find out what happened to this asteroid over time, which can give us better insight into how all of these small asteroids are changing over millions, hundreds of millions or even billions of years,” Scheeres said. “Our findings exceeded our expectations.”

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Photo courtesy NASA

CU researchers have been involved with the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which launched in 2016 and landed in September.

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What's In an Astronaut's Phone?

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 06:00:00 +0000

What's In an Astronaut's Phone? Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/10/2023 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

Jim Voss (MAeroEngr’74; HonDocSci’00) served as a U.S. Army colonel and NASA astronaut. He flew into space five times (202 total days) on NASA’s space shuttles. He also worked aboard the International Space Station and completed a nearly nine-hour spacewalk, the longest recorded. Jim returned to CU �鶹ӰԺ as a professor in 2004, where he teaches students about human spaceflight in the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

How soon after waking up do you look at your phone? When it rings.

App you wish you had the inner strength to delete: None — I don't use many.

Last person you called: My wife.

Duration of longest call last week: 2 minutes.

Location and description of last selfie: Skiing with friends at Breckenridge.

Does anyone else have your passcode? Yes.

Oldest photo on your phone: It’s too old for me to remember when it was taken.

What is your lock screen or background image? I had to look since I don't pay attention to things like that — it’s a photo I took of fall foliage with orange and yellow trees.

What do you use your phone for most? Phone calls.

Most used apps:

Camera, Yelp, Maps

Most used emoji:

Birthday cake emoji

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Photo courtesy Jim Voss

Astronaut Jim Voss shares what he uses his phone for most.

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Summer 2023

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Running Out of Space

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Running Out of Space Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/06/2023 - 00:00

Allison Nitch

Space environmentalist Moriba Jah, a 2022 MacArthur Fellow, is on a mission to manage space debris.

Astrodynamicist and space environmentalist Moriba Jah (MAeroEngr’01; PhD’05) is among the prestigious 25-member cohort of the 2022 MacArthur Fellows Program.

After receiving roughly 2,000 nominations per year from a pool of invited external nominators, the MacArthur Foundation selects individuals demonstrating exceptional creativity and a history of significant achievement who are on the precipice of great discovery or a game-changing idea. Jah, a CU �鶹ӰԺ alumnus, is one such individual.

He won the fellowship for laying the foundation for a safe, prosperous and sustainable near-Earth space environment.

“Much like people are keeping track of things moving on land, air and ocean, my job is to keep track of human-made things moving around in space,” said Jah, associate professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin.

Saving Space

Jah’s work also involves policy guidance and public education concerning the framework of space environmentalism, which he likened to human exploration of Earth’s assets. “That exploration was led by those most resourced, and it always came to the detriment of the environment — we’re doing the same thing with space.”

While Jah said he’s still in some disbelief about receiving a MacArthur fellowship, he wants “to invest these resources in me and my vision. Basically, I want space environmentalism to be mainstream across humanity. … I’m going to look for every means possible to be able to achieve that.”

A challenge in his field, he said, is the lack of empathy toward solving the problem of space debris.

“That’s the most difficult thing — mostly because people don’t have the awareness of what the problem is,” he said. “Then once they learn about it, it’s hard for them to see why it should matter to them.”

Jah strives to fix this by showing evidence “of the dependencies that we have, certainly in western civilization, on space-based infrastructure, services and capabilities in our daily lives.”

Together, Jah and his colleagues created a system to gather and catalog data through ASTRIAGraph and Wayfinder, free online visualization tools they’ve developed.

The alarming amount of space congestion he tracks includes expired satellites that continue to travel at high speeds. When satellites stop functioning, they will hurtle through space for centuries or more, he said. While space is often thought of as large and infinite, Jah confirmed orbital highways — where satellites are placed — are very finite.

Just a few years ago, a dozen satellites were launched in a year. Now, “we’re launching about a dozen satellites per week, at least,” said Jah. “We’re just sending stuff up but not coordinating it with other countries.

“It’s a recipe for the tragedy of the commons: Space could become unusable because we keep on participating in that finite resource without the benefit of planning, coordinating and even understanding the decision-making processes of other people that are doing that as well.”

I want space environmentalism to be mainstream across humanity.

On the Horizon

Looking ahead as a MacArthur Fellow, Jah underscored his belief in the interconnection of all things: “We are in an existential crisis; our only way through it is by having a successful conversation with our environment,” he said. “Stewardship is really what’s being asked for us to become, embrace and honor.

“I hope that my work is able to recruit empathy from people to raise awareness, show evidence of the interconnectedness and hopefully motivate people to see themselves as stewards of the environment.”

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Illustration by Lisk Feng; Photo courtesy John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Space environmentalist Moriba Jah is on a mission to manage space debris.

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CU �鶹ӰԺ Alum Named a 2022 MacArthur Fellow

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 22:02:25 +0000

CU �鶹ӰԺ Alum Named a 2022 MacArthur Fellow Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/15/2022 - 15:02

Allison Nitch

Astrodynamicist and space environmentalist Moriba Jah (MAeroEngr’01; PhD’05) is among the prestigious 25-member cohort of the 2022 MacArthur Fellows Program.

He won the fellowship for laying the foundation for a safe, prosperous and sustainable near-Earth space environment.

Moriba Jah is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow.

Saving Space

Jah’s work also involves policy guidance and public education concerning the framework of space environmentalism, which he likened to human exploration of Earth’s assets. “That [type of] exploration was led by those most resourced, and it always came to the detriment of the environment — we’re doing the same thing with space.”

A challenge in his field, he said, is the lack of empathy toward solving the problem of space debris.

Jah strives to fix this by showing evidence “of the dependencies that we have, certainly in western civilization, on space-based infrastructure, services and capabilities in our daily lives.”

Together, Jah and his colleagues created a system to gather and catalog data through ASTRIAGraph and Wayfinder, free online visualization tools they’ve developed.

A Career Takes Off

“We’re just sending stuff up but not coordinating it with other countries.”

Jah’s career is founded on astrodynamics — the science that studies motion of objects in space — orbit determination and statistics, “as taught to me by the late George Born, professor emeritus and director for the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research.”

Jah explained how Professor Born gave him the opportunity to work alongside him during graduate school at CU �鶹ӰԺ. “I wasn’t a great test-taker; I didn’t do well on my GREs. ... But I did meaningful research and he said, ‘I want you to be a grad student here.’ It was an ‘I believe you should be here — now prove it to yourself’ sort of thing.”

He fondly recalled his time as a student and the beauty of campus, where his son is now an undergraduate engineering physics major.

Among his favorite CU memories are the meaningful exchanges shared during dinners that Professor Born and his wife, Carol, hosted for graduate students. Additionally, Jah said his camaraderie with other students has lasted for years, as he continues to keep in touch with former classmates.

On the Horizon

Looking ahead as a MacArthur Fellow, Jah underscored his belief in the interconnection of all things: ”We are in an existential crisis; our only way through it is by having a successful conversation with our environment,” he said. “Stewardship is really what’s being asked for us to become, embrace and honor.”

Photos courtesy John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Astrodynamicist and space environmentalist Moriba Jah is among the prestigious 25-member cohort of the 2022 MacArthur Fellows Program.

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Space

Astronaut Sarah Gillis is the First to Play Violin in Space

From Training Astronauts to Becoming One

Five Record-Breaking Days

The Next Step

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News Briefs from CU �鶹ӰԺ

Heard Around Campus

Incarcerated at Risk in Climate Disasters

CU Buys Shuttered Louisville Movie Theater

New Quantum Facility in �鶹ӰԺ

Digits: Europa Instrument

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Mining the Moon: A New Era of Commercial Space Exploration

What is the vision in terms of the future of space mining and space commerce?

Your PhD was in planetary geochemistry at CU. What led you to �鶹ӰԺ?

Your work seems to challenge the idea that industries exist in a silo. Can you talk more about your multidisciplinary approach?

What topics in the field have been piquing your interest these days?

Any thoughts or advice for recent graduates?

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75 Years of LASP: Missions Across the Cosmos

Sun

Mercury

Venus

Earth

Moon

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto

And beyond…

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Retired Astronaut Marsha Ivins Reflects on Her Time in Space

As a child, did you imagine life as an astronaut?

Of your career missions, are there any that you feel especially passionate about or regard as your favorite?

Can you describe the feeling of looking out at the Earth for the first time from space?

What were some of your career goals when you were studying aerospace engineering at CU �鶹ӰԺ?

How does it feel to be selected for the Astronaut Hall of Fame?

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Campus News Briefs: Spring 2024

Consistent Yoga for Good Health

Study Abroad Hits Record Number

CU Economist Tackles English Mystery

Heard Around Campus

Digits: 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

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CU �鶹ӰԺ Alum Named a 2022 MacArthur Fellow

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