As NASA prepares to send its first rocket toward the Moon in nearly 50 years, a University of Iowa researcher is among the lead scientists on a separate robotic mission to our dusty, gray neighbor. Jasper Halekas, a UI Professor of Physics and Astronomy, is deputy principal investigator for the Lunar Vertex project. It will send a space probe to an area of the Moon where there’s a strong magnetic field as well as a mysterious swirl of both very light and very dark soils.

In this interview with KCRG-TV 9's Jackie Kennon, Professor Jasper Halekas talks about why the Artemis 1 launch was scrubbed on Aug. 29 and how the mission is significant for the future of lunar exploration. Halekas also discussed the importance of returning astronauts to the Moon and his experiences with NASA missions.

In an interview with Nick Stewart of Iowa's News Now (CBS 2), Assistant Professor Casey DeRoo commented on the planned launch of this generation's moon shot, known as Artemis. 

Assistant Professor Casey DeRoo has received a $271,602 grant from NASA's Astrophysics Research and Analysis (APRA) program to develop mirror technologies for X-ray astronomy.

The University of Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (Iowa JPEC) will honor  Profs. John Prineas and Fatima Toor as Iowa Innovators of the Year at its Innovation and Entrepreneurship Honors event on Sept. 9 at 4:30 p.m. at the Old Capitol Museum in Iowa City.

Professor Fred Skiff has been awarded a $660,965 grant  from the Department of Energy for a project entitled “Ion Kinetic Degrees of Freedom in a Plasma with Complex Orbits.”

The NASA Iowa Space Grant Consortium (ISGC) has selected six University of Iowa Physics and Astronomy students as undergraduate research fellows. They will be awarded $5,000 scholarships to support research projects in coordination with a faculty mentor.

Allison Jaynes, Associate Professor in the University of Iowa Department of Physics and Astronomy, has been selected to serve on the Solar and Space Physics (Heliophysics) Decadal Survey Steering Committee, established by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. As a member of the Decadal Survey Committee, Professor Jaynes will help will set NASA's priorities in solar and space physics for the next ten years and beyond.

Students can get a head start on an aerospace career by entering the 2023 CanSat Competition. Not just a paper exercise, CanSat is an annual competition in which college and university teams from around the world participate in a scored and judged design-build-launch project to see who can best meet assigned mission requirements.

The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is posthumously honoring Professor Donald Gurnett with a Distinguished Alumni Faculty Award.