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Members of the MSU Observatory Research Program wave from inside the observatory, beneath a 24-inch telescope.

MSU helps confirm success of NASA's first planetary defense mission, trains future astronomers

In addition to MSU physics and astronomy faculty members contributions to NASA's efforts to be ready to redirect incoming space rocks or asteroids, the MSU Observatory is enabling undergraduates to generate important data for the astronomy community while gaining valuable skills and experience in an increasingly competitive field. In doing so, they’re setting themselves and future generations of Spartan students up for success.

Drawing of a full moon with waves of light moving out into a star filled sky.

Plants in space: Seeding a sustainable future

The moon holds answers, and Michigan State University plant biologist Federica Brandizzi and her team are bringing those answers within reach. Patience, creativity and a cheerful fearlessness are turning insights buried in plant seeds into pathways to the very survival of the human race.

Asteroid 2023 DZ2 is an approximately 200-ft.-wide asteroid passing near Earth this week. While not a threat, objects like it may be in the future, so NASA's DART mission monitors and tests how to redirect asteroids.

Ask the expert: Planetary scientist who redirects asteroids with NASA discusses asteroid 2023 DZ2

NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies detected an asteroid that will pass Earth by 108,758 miles this weekend, which is closer than the moon’s distance from Earth 238,855 miles away. Seth Jacobson, a planetary scientist in Michigan State University’s College of Natural Science, is a member of NASA and MSU’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission which is the world’s first planetary defense space mission and tested how to redirect asteroids that could hit Earth.