About the Center

The Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences serves two distinct but interrelated roles at the University. Created initially in 2000 with funding from NSF, it is a research center which maintains facilities, equipment, instrumentation, and associated infrastructure for interdisciplinary research over a wide range of topics in space science, planetary science, and engineering. Additionally, the Center administers the interdisciplinary graduate degree programs in Space and Planetary Sciences, created in 2005.

Center faculty are drawn from the departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Electrical Engineering, Geosciences, Mechanical Engineering, and Physics, providing the wide range of expertise needed to address our research areas, while the graduate degree programs operate under the Graduate School and International Education.

Education

We are student oriented and in partnership with the academic departments. We offer master's and doctoral programs in space and planetary science. We also have an Undergraduate Summer Research Internship Program for summer research offered to undergraduates from across the country. University of Arkansas undergraduates participate in center activities by doing research, many as part of their honors dissertation.

Research

We conduct research on astronomy and planetary science, the geology and biology of the planets, and asteroid and comet surfaces. We design instruments and plan missions for the exploration of our solar system and other planetary systems. The Center has a major emphasis on samples and sample return. Major facilities include the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Planetary Simulation.