Posts Categorized

Space Studies

Space Studies hosted tours of its facilities for NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, General Mike Guetlein, and Senator John Hoeven on Tuesday, October 13, 2026. The dignitaries visited Dr. Pablo de León’s Human Spaceflight Lab and Integrated Lunar/Martian Analog Habitat (ILMAH) as well as Space Studies displays on Clifford Hall’s second floor. While on an EVA, […]

Congratulations to MS Student Jessica Jelke and Tate Few (MS’23) on being selected for the National Space Society’s inaugural “30 under 30” class of emerging leaders who have demonstrated “their ability to contribute, lead, innovate, and help move the space community forward.” Jessica is a NASA Pathways Intern. Since graduating, Tate has founded the non-profit […]

Congratulations to Dr. Francisco Del Canto Viterale on being named a Higher Education Ambassador to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). HE is the first CFR Education Ambassador selected to represent the state of North Dakota. Dr. Del Canto Viterale teaches space policy and history to both undergraduate and graduate students at UND. Story in […]

For the next 3 years, UND will be testing NASA’s waste-processing facility during Integrated Lunar/Mars Analog Habitat analog missions. Developed by NASA, this cutting-edge waste-processing module was attached to ILMAH in early May in time for ILMAH Mission XXVIII. This research will provide NASA with real-world operational results for a future lunar base waste collection […]

Dr. Pablo de León and Dr. Keith Crisman recently visited the construction site of the new Altru Sports Complex to observe the progress of the Neutral Buoyancy Facility (NBF). The new sports complex will include a specially designed deep-water section that will support UND Aerospace training and research activities in extravehicular activity (EVA) operations. Using […]

Space Studies’ next big adventure is one step closer to beginning. The final beam of the Neutral Buoyancy Space Operations Facility has been installed! Stakeholders were invited to sign the beam. Included here are Dr. Keith Crisman’s “Doc C” signature and Dr. de Leon’s, who signed via Bluetooth! The red shape is a Diver Down […]

Launching the Commissioning Phase of UND’s Ground Station On July 23rd, UND proudly welcomed three engineers from Added Value Solution (AVS) to begin commissioning the Odegard Ground Station, the future hub of the UND Space Operations Group (SOG) and a training ground for UND’s next generation of satellite operators. Weeks earlier, key components—including the Server […]

Get a closer look at the ROADS Mission and how its early phases have shaped the experience of UND’s students and faculty. First Contact for UND ROADS Mission Late last night, at approximately 00:06:00 UTC (7:06 PM for UND, 2:12 AM for AVS Spain Operators), first contact was successfully made with UND ROADS 1 & […]

  UND ROADS Mission Achieves Historic Milestone with Dual CubeSats in Orbit Today marks a historic milestone for the UND ROADS Mission: both UND ROADS 1 and UND ROADS 2 have officially reached Low Earth Orbit (LEO) following their successful deployment aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-14 rideshare mission. The Space Operations Group (SOG) gathered […]

Dr. Pablo de León, Dr. Keith Crisman, and Dr. Jesse Rhoades were honored at Founders Day with the UND Award for Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Research and Creative Activity. From the award presentation: “…By synthesizing Dr. de León’s vast experience in spacesuit design, Dr. Crisman’s skill in risk mitigation and human-in-the-loop testing, and Dr. Rhoades’ expertise […]