space

Aarti Patel in a red shirt with a river behind her
Mechanical engineering student Aarti Patel found inspiration in outer space during an artistic internship at NASA this spring.
Cathedral of Learning at sunset with a flying saucer to the right
As the U.S. government prepares to share an unclassified report on “unidentified aerial phenomena,” we asked Pitt experts to weigh in on the science, politics and psychology of aliens and extraterrestrial spacecraft.
Emily Klonicki in a black jacket and white top against a brown background
In 2018, Pitt student Emily Klonicki was an intern at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory trying to make sure “freeloader” bacteria didn’t make it to Mars. Today, she’s a full-time NASA planetary protection engineer pushing the boundaries of science and tech.
A photograph of Mars
Sanford Asher has spent his career studying UV Raman spectroscopy, which uses ultraviolet light to excite molecules and determine the basic components of matter. Now, he’s using it to look for life on Mars.
Jeffrey Newman, with a monitor displaying two dimensional stars and galaxies
A new 5,000-eyed instrument is searching the skies for dark energy, and a star survey recently unveiled the smallest known black hole. Two teams in the Department of Physics and Astronomy are working to unravel the universe’s mysteries.
a black and white photo of Hapke in a suit, holding a vial of moon dust
As a postdoctoral researcher, Bruce Hapke helped NASA determine the consistency of the moon’s soil, which helped engineers create the proper boots, rovers and wheeled equipment for the Apollo 11 landing, which happened 50 years ago this Saturday. Hapke and others at Pitt have helped build on a legacy of space research.
a circular "trunk" with the computer inside
A novel supercomputer developed by a University of Pittsburgh team is set to journey to the International Space Station, continuing a NASA partnership meant to improve Earth and space science.
smiling Emily in front of a gray background
Emily Klonicki spent the summer in a NASA lab helping to develop filters to keep microbes from contaminating Mars.