NASA administrator visits University of Arizona to inspire next generation of space explorers

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman’s visit to the University of Arizona gave Tucson area students a direct look at the people, skills and technologies NASA says it will need for its next chapter. More than 650 students and community members gathered Wednesday at the Bear Down Building, including students from Tucson area high schools, the University of Arizona, Pima Community College and Tohono O’odham Community College. The event offered local students a chance to ask questions about space debris, black holes and the pace of future missions, while seeing how people in Southern Arizona are already contributing to NASA’s work.

Isaacman’s appearance was part of NASA’s Inspiration Tour, which is visiting innovation centers and highlighting opportunities tied to future exploration. His stop at the University of Arizona was the tour’s only visit to an Arizona university. Before speaking to students, he met with university leaders, researchers and student teams at the Applied Research Building, where he toured facilities used for spacecraft development, communications testing and mission operations. He also spoke with university officials about the importance of developing new talent as NASA prepares for additional lunar missions and eventual journeys to Mars.

At a town hall in Bear Down Gym, Isaacman described a future that will require people with a wide range of interests and abilities. He said NASA expects to need engineers, scientists, technicians, entrepreneurs, researchers, operators, explorers and astronauts. The agency’s plans include returning people to the moon, establishing a sustained lunar presence, developing nuclear power and propulsion for missions farther into the solar system, and using knowledge gained around the moon to support missions to Mars. Isaacman said the Artemis 3 launch is anticipated in the summer, while emphasizing that space exploration will offer opportunities beyond flying in space or working directly on a launch vehicle.

The University of Arizona has been connected to NASA programs for more than 60 years, beginning with the Ranger missions that preceded Apollo. University researchers have since contributed to major projects including OSIRIS REx, which brought NASA’s first asteroid sample back to Earth, as well as the James Webb, Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes. The university ranks first among United States public universities in space sciences and third worldwide, according to the university. Isaacman praised the school’s optics programs, its cameras operating on missions and its imagery of Mars, describing the university as an important contributor to NASA’s effort to understand the universe.

That long relationship is also giving current students experience with projects that are intended to operate in space. During the Applied Research Building tour, Isaacman visited an anechoic chamber used to test satellite communications and a high bay containing the Magnum and Arizona Radio telescopes. At the Multi Mission Operations Center, he met students and researchers involved in missions and technologies focused on Earth orbit, Mars, the moon and more distant destinations. The center is also where the university operates NASA’s Pandora exoplanet satellite.

Several student connected projects were presented during the visit. On Aspera, a NASA SmallSat scheduled to launch in January, students are helping develop a mission examining how galaxies form and change over time. Another student built SmallSat, CatSat, is testing an inflatable antenna intended to support high speed communications. Walter Rahmer, CatSat’s student lead, said showing the project to a large NASA delegation was significant for the team. University officials said student participation is built into many of the school’s space missions, allowing students to help construct and operate hardware that goes beyond the classroom.

Other projects highlighted the breadth of the university’s space research. HiRISE has been producing high resolution images of Mars from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, while students are helping develop Lunar HiLIFE, which would bring comparable imaging capabilities to the moon. EMILIA 3D is designed to create three dimensional thermal maps of the lunar surface. Students are also working on LEMs seismometers that are bound for NASA’s Artemis IV mission and will measure moonquakes. Through Ascend, a program of the Arizona Space Grant Consortium, students earlier in their space careers can design experiments and send them into near space on high altitude balloons.

University President Suresh Garimella said the event was intended not only to showcase the school’s NASA partnership, but also to introduce that work to future Wildcats from high schools and community colleges across Southern Arizona. University research leaders said colleges have an increasingly important role as space exploration expands beyond government agencies. Universities provide settings for fundamental science, technology testing and workforce development, while student involvement helps connect local education to missions with national and international reach.

Isaacman, who commanded the first all civilian orbital mission, told students that they are already part of NASA’s future rather than waiting for permission to join it. He urged them to take on problems that may appear impossible until someone solves them and to contribute in whatever field best fits their abilities. Claire Lynch, a computer science junior who interns at SpaceX, was among the students who spoke with Isaacman after the event and called his visit personally inspiring. For Tucson students, the message was that the next era of lunar and Mars exploration will not be shaped only by astronauts, but also by the researchers, builders and operators developing that future in Southern Arizona now.