SwRI Researcher Shows How Elliptical Craters Shed Light on Age of Saturn's Moons

A new SwRI study describes how unique populations of craters on two of Saturn’s moons could help indicate the satellites’ age and the conditions of their formation.

Jun 22, 2022

SwRI-Led Study Points to Multiple Eruptions Forming Pluto's Giant Ice Volcanos

New Horizons mission team determined multiple episodes of cryovolcanism may have created unique surface structures on Pluto.

Mar 30, 2022

SwRI Scientists Help Determine Comet Delivery to Moon

SwRI scientists joined a team that modeled data from a planned lunar impact. Findings suggest volitiles that are present in a crater near the Moon's south pole were delivered by comet.

Feb 24, 2022

SwRI Scientist Simulates How Solar System Formed from Rings

Dr. Rogerio Deienno, who specializes in celestial mechanics and dynamical astronomy, and his colleagues developed a model where three rings of planetesimals, the building blocks for planets, would form from the swirling disk of gas and dust around the Sun known as the solar nebula.

Jan 5, 2022

CYGNSS Satellites Celebrate Five Years of Critical Hurricane Research

A constellation of SwRI-built and -operated satellites recently celebrated five years in orbit, circling the tropics to assess wind speeds to better understand how hurricanes intensify.

Dec 20, 2021

New Horizons Scientist Measures Brightness of our Galaxy

A new study led by Southwest Research Institute determined the brightness of the galactic Lyman-alpha background using a SwRI-developed instrument aboard NASA’s Kuiper Belt space probe, New Horizons.

Nov 23, 2021

NASA Selects SwRI-LED Cubesat to Assess the Origins of Hot Plasma in the Sun's Corona

NASA has selected the CubeSat Imaging X-Ray Solar Spectrometer (CubIXSS), led by SwRI, to measure the elemental composition of hot, multimillion-degree plasmas in the Sun's corona.

Nov 5, 2121

Team Produces a New Earth Bombardment Model

SwRI led team has updated its asteroid bombardment model of the Earth with the latest geological evidence of ancient, large collisions.

Oct 21, 2021

Colliding Worlds: How Cosmic Encounters Shaped Planets and Life

Dr. Simone Marchi explores in a new book (Colliding Worlds, Oxford University Press, 2021) the key role that collisions in space have played in the formation and evolution of our Solar System, the development of planets, and possibly even the origin of life on Earth.

Oct 7, 2021

Alan Stern named AGU Fellow

Dr. Alan Stern has been named a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)

Sep 28, 2021

Studying the Solar System through Research and Exploration

Southwest Research Institute's Planetary Science Directorate has over 80 employees and is located in the Exeter Building at 11th and Walnut in downtown Boulder, Colorado.

Areas of research and development:

Space Studies
Planetary Physics
Planetary Atmospheres and Surfaces
Lunar Origin and Evolution
Solar Physics
Solar System Dynamics
Astronomy
Computer Systems
Space Operations
Space Technologies
Mission Operations

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), based in San Antonio, Texas, is an independent, nonprofit, applied engineering and physical science research and development organization with over 3000 employees. The Space Science and Engineering Division's goals are excellence in space research and the expansion and deepening of SwRI's space research efforts.

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Upcoming Hosted Events

Jul

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Andrew Wilcoski -- CU LASP

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David Gerdes -- Univ. of Michigan

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