UArizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory

06/16/2026

Great news! The University of Arizona ranked #3 in space sciences globally according to the latest report from US News and World report! This ranking includes both LPL and University of Arizona Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory. Read more about this honor here:

The U of A ranked No. 1 among public U.S. universities in space science and No. 20 among all public U.S. universities overall in the 2026-2027 Best Global Universities ranking.

06/09/2026

Kudos to LPL alums Michelle Thompson and James Keane who received their PECASE awards yesterday! More info about this honor is here: https://www.nasa.gov/organizations/ocs/nasa-scientists-engineers-receive-presidential-early-career-awards/

05/14/2026

Please join us in congratulating Kiana McFadden, who today successfully defended her Ph.D. Dissertation, Thermal Modeling of Main Belt and Mars-Crossing Asteroids: Improved Constraints on Physical Properties from Extended WISE/NEOWISE Observations.

Congratulations, Kiana!

📸: Kiana is pictured with her Ph.D. advisors, Dr. Amy Mainzer and Dr. Jessica Barnes.

05/13/2026

Please join us in congratulating Kana Ishimaru, who today successfully defended her Ph.D. Dissertation, Probing the Alteration Histories of Primitive Carbonaceous Materials from the Asteroid to the Atomic Scale.

📸: Kana is pictured with her Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Jessica Barnes.

05/05/2026

Congrats to all! LPL is proud of our alums! More information about the DPS prize winners can be found here: https://dps.aas.org/news/aas-division-for-planetary-sciences-announces-2026-prize-winners/

05/04/2026

Kudos to Kayla!

05/01/2026

Congratulations, 2026 Galileo Scholars!

04/30/2026

Congratulations, Lucas! 🥳

04/29/2026

A research team at LPL demonstrated that ground-penetrating radar mounted on drones can map the thickness of rocky debris covering glaciers on Earth. These results could help future astronauts locate accessible water locked in buried ice on Mars.

U of A researchers launched drones equipped with ground-penetrating radar over debris-covered glaciers in Alaska and Wyoming that resemble buried ice deposits found on Mars.

04/29/2026

Kudos to LPL graduate student Cole Meyer! 🎉