Breakthrough discoveries are highlighting the importance of continued investment in space missions. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s University of Arizona-led OSIRIS-REx mission collected sample material from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu that showed evidence of water and high-carbon content and have started studying the sample. Dante Lauretta (Principal Investigator, OSIRIS-REx, Regents Professor) shared that Bennu may offer insight into the origin of life with The Washington Post.

• The Washington Post: Asteroid pieces brought to Earth may offer clue to life’s origin.

Vishnu Reddy (Space4 Center Director and Professor of Planetary Sciences in the Lunar and Planetary Labs) and his Space4 team identified errant space junk that crashed into the Moon, providing definitive proof that the object was a booster from a Chinese space rocket.

In fall 2022, the university launched the Space4 Center to consolidate the potential of researchers with demonstrated expertise in science and engineering. Space4 empowers collaborators to achieve their missions by developing cyber tools and resources for responsible use of the Earth-Moon system and exploration of cislunar space.

Space4 offers expertise in:

• Discovery, Tracking & Characterization
• Astrodynamics, Machine Learning & Data Visualization
• Workforce Development