SPOTLIGHT Archive

As ice sheets and glaciers continue to lose mass, we expect sea levels to rise by different amounts around the world and even to fall near the ice sheets. Models predicting these patterns form the basis of future sea-level projections.  However, the patterns over large spatial scales have never been directly observed, as they were ...

We are pleased to announce that Shauna Pendleton has been appointed as an Assistant Director of CSR effective September 1, 2022. This transition is a reflection of the fact that an entity such as CSR more than ever requires skilled professionals to operate, nurture, and grow – and that Shauna is eminently suited to lead the ...

For 20 years researchers at The University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Space Research have been Weighing the Earth from Outer Space with the GRACE missions. The GRACE mission, which started as a gravity measuring mission, has evolved into a tool for climate study in which the mass movement in and between the Earth system ...

CSR GRACE Follow-On group published the first global Earth gravity field models to be derived from space borne laser ranging interferometer, flown as a technology demonstration onboard the joint NASA/GFZ GRACE Follow-On mission. This paper is particularly significant because space geodesy is transitioning from using the microwave interferometric techniques (used on GRACE and GRACE-FO missions) ...

UT Austin and UTEP Aerospace Engineering Leaders to Work with U.S. Space Force The University of Texas at El Paso and The University of Texas at Austin have signed agreements with the U.S. Space Force to provide advanced research and workforce development for the newest branch of the U.S. armed services. The University of Texas System ...

April 5, 2021 Four students and one alumna from the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics (ASE/EM) have received the National Science Foundation (NSF) highly competitive Graduate Research Fellowship Program award (GRFP) for 2021. The GRFP recruits high-potential, early-career scientists and engineers and supports their graduate research training in STEM. The program also supports broadening science ...

NOVEMBER 30, 2020 Aerospace engineering senior Dillan McDonald was selected for an Honorable Mention as part of the 2020 Universities Space Research Association (USRA) Distinguished Undergraduate Awards. McDonald was one of 11 Honorable Mentions selected from 126 applicants by a review panel consisting of faculty at USRA’s member institutions. The USRA, established in 1969, is an independent, ...

Dear All – Please join me in congratulating Himanshu on receiving the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal, for which the citation reads: “…For exceptional service managing the GRACE and GRACE-FO Science Operations and delivering excellent performance and science data quality.” I add my thanks to Himanshu for all his hard work and imaginative contributions in making our ...

Professor Emeritus Byron Tapley was selected to receive the 2020 John Leland Atwood award presented jointly by the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Aerospace Division and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Established in 1985, the award is given annually to honor an outstanding educator in the field of aerospace engineering. Recipients receive a ...

Under NASA’s Artemis program, the agency plans to send humans back to the moon by 2024 — and small spacecraft will help blaze the trail. A partnership between The University of Texas at Austin and NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston was one of nine university-led groups selected by NASA to advance these spacecraft, which can be as small as ...