University of Colorado Boulder

The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder is one of the world's leading university-based space research institutes, combining spacecraft engineering, instrument development, and mission operations under one roof. LASP has flown instruments on missions ranging from the Voyager probes to Mars orbiters, and it has become a national leader in student-built small satellites.

LASP's flagship CubeSat program is MinXSS (Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer), a 3U CubeSat built primarily by CU Boulder students with faculty and engineer mentorship. MinXSS-1 launched in December 2015 and deployed from the ISS in May 2016, carrying an X-ray spectrometer to measure solar soft X-ray emissions and their impact on Earth's upper atmosphere and ionosphere — the first NASA Science Mission Directorate CubeSat to fly a dedicated science payload. A follow-on, MinXSS-2, launched in 2018 for extended solar observations.

LASP also contributed to CSSWE (Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment), a 3U CubeSat studying energetic particles in Earth's radiation belts, and continues to train students through hands-on small-satellite design, fabrication, and mission operations as part of CU Boulder's aerospace engineering curriculum.