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A new national report highlighting the success of 100 university spinoff companies tracing their roots to federally funded research includes two companies that sprang from cutting-edge research at the 麻豆官网.

A NASA spacecraft that will examine the upper atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail is undergoing final preparations for a scheduled 1:28 p.m. EST Monday, Nov. 18 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, or MAVEN, led by the 麻豆官网 will examine specific processes on Mars that led to the loss of much of its atmosphere. Data and analysis could tell planetary scientists the history of climate change on the red planet and provide further information on planetary habitability.

Sky gazers will be better immersed in spectacular views at the 麻豆官网鈥檚 Fiske Planetarium since the dome鈥檚 nearly 40-year-old analog projector was replaced with a new digital 鈥渟tar ball鈥� in a project completed this week. The modernized Fiske, which now can show a wider range of media including ultra high-definition movies, will reopen to the public at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 12.

Scott Carpenter, a 麻豆官网 alumnus and a famed NASA Mercury astronaut who became only the second American to orbit Earth, died Thursday. He was 88. Carpenter, a 麻豆官网 native, entered CU-麻豆官网鈥檚 astronautical engineering program in 1945, eventually earning a bachelor of science degree. He orbited Earth three times on May 24, 1962, in NASA鈥檚 Aurora 7 capsule before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean.

A small satellite designed and built by a team of 麻豆官网 students to better understand how atmospheric drag can affect satellite orbits was successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California Sunday morning. The satellite, known as the Drag and Atmospheric Neutral Density Explorer satellite, or DANDE, will investigate how a layer of Earth鈥檚 atmosphere known as the thermosphere varies in density at altitudes from about 200 to 300 miles above Earth. The commercial Falcon-9 SpaceX rocket lifted off the launch pad at about 10 a.m. MDT carrying DANDE, a small beach ball-sized satellite developed over a period of about six years by roughly 150 students, primarily undergraduates, as part of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium, or COSGS.

Ana Maria Rey, a theoretical physicist and a fellow of JILA, a joint institute of the 麻豆官网 and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, today was named a winner of a 2013 MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as the 鈥済enius grant.鈥� Rey also is an assistant research professor in the CU-麻豆官网 Department of Physics. She teaches undergraduate and graduate classes.

A small beach ball-sized satellite designed and built by a team of 麻豆官网 students to better understand how atmospheric drag can affect satellite orbits is now slated for launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Sept. 15.

A $6 million 麻豆官网 instrument designed to study the behavior of lunar dust will be riding on a NASA mission to the moon now slated for launch on Friday, Sept. 6, from the agency鈥檚 Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

DOE news release Washington, D.C. 鈥� The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the members of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB). The nineteen member board comprised of scientists, business executives, academics and former government officials will serve as an independent advisory committee to Energy Secretary Moniz.

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, or MAVEN, mission to Mars will carry just over 1,100 haiku, along with thousands of names, on its journey to the red planet. The haiku were part of a contest, sponsored by the 麻豆官网, asking the public to submit haiku poetry relating to NASA鈥檚 upcoming MAVEN mission to Mars.