Below you will find a list of current Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology (LoCSST) news and announcements. If you are looking for past ones, please visit our Past News and Announcements page.

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2026 News and Announcements

  • February 2026: The annual Faculty Symposium will take place on Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at University Crossing
  • Chris Mendillo and Ananya Sahoo will make presentations at the Spirit of Lyot 6 Conference at the Caltech Campus, Pasadena, California on February 2-6
  • Ananya Sahoo will present the poster "Thermal, Structural and Optical Analysis of a Balloon-Borne Coronagraphic Imaging System"

2025 News and Announcements

UMass Lowell attendees pose for a photo at the America Geophysical Union 2025.

LoCSST attendees at AGU included from left to right Physics Graduate Student Charmi Patel, Professor Mei-Yun Lin, Professor Supriya Chakrabarti, post-doctoral researcher Sunip Mukherjee, Professor Ofer Cohen, and Physics Graduate Student Lukas Hanson.

  • December 2025: Several presentations were made by LoCSST team members at American Geophysical Union 2025 (AGU25)
    • Graduate student Charmi Patel presented "All-Season Auroral Observations with High Throughput and Multislit Imaging Spectrograph (HiT&MIS): Nighttime Energy and Flux Retrieval of Auroral Electrons and Progress Toward Sunlit Conditions," featuring the High Throughput and Multi Slit Imaging Spectrograph.
    • Doctoral Graduate Sunip Mukherjee presented "Applying newer models and techniques to remote sensing of geophysical conditions."
    • Graduate student Lukas Hanson presented "Probing the Cosmic Shoreline - Modeling the Impact of Enhances Solar Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) and Stellar EUV spectra on Earth-like Ionospheres."
Graduate student Charmi Patel presenting "All-Season Auroral Observations with High Throughput and Multislit Imaging Spectrograph (HiT&MIS): Nighttime Energy and Flux Retrieval of Auroral Electrons and Progress Toward Sunlit Conditions," featuring the High Throughput and Multi Slit Imaging Spectrograph.
  • December 2025: Several LoCSST faculty members presented lightning talks at the UMass Lowell 2025 Faculty Research Symposium
    • Professor Supriya Chakrabarti presented: "Recent Developments and Future Directions of Instrumentation and related Tools for Optical Aeronomy."
    • Professor Ofer Cohen is chairing the poster session "The Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) – Building a Community for Interdisciplinary Research Across NASA Science Divisions."
    • Professor HeiYun Lin presented the poster "Tracing Lunar Metallic Ions into Earth’s Inner Magnetosphere.”
    • Professor Ofer Cohen presented “The Upper Atmospheres of Extrasolar Planets."
Graduate student Lukas Hanson with Professor Ofer Cohen during PhD defense titled Probing the Cosmic Shoreline.

Graduate student Lukas Hanson with Professor Ofer Cohen during his doctoral defense titled "Probing the Cosmic Shoreline: the Role of Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation in Exoplanet Atmosphere Retention".

  • November 2025: Congratulations to Graduate Student Lukas Hanson on successfully defending his PhD dissertation titled “Probing the Cosmic Shoreline: the Role of Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation in Exoplanet Atmosphere Retention.”
High Throughput and Multislit Imaging Spectograph Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology logo.

High throughput and multislit imaging spectograph by LoCSST.

  • November 2025: Professor Mei-Yun Lin presented the talk "Transport and energization of heavy ions in earth’s high latitude ionosphere” at MIT Haystack Observatory.
  • October 2025: Following a full recalibration, HiT&MIS (High-resolution optical spectrograph) has been redeployed to Kiruna, Sweden to provide critical ground-based observations for the ORIGINS Rocket Campaign, led by Stockholm University, during its second launch attempt to measure hydroxyl (OH) airglow.
Space Centre Australia Locsst agreement public support turnout.

We were thrilled with the huge turnout of supporters for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Space Centre Australia and UMass Lowell on October 23 at University Crossing.

Space Centre Australia members visit UML research facilities.

Above: Some faculty, staff, and student members of the LoCSST team with Space Centre Australia guests following Massachusetts Alliance for Space Technology and Sciences (MASTS) lab and Space Lab tours and discussions in Wannalancit.

Below: Jason Martel, Lead Mechanical Engineer at LoCSST, talks about the MASTS Thermal Vacuum Chamber, which tests components under simulated space conditions.

Space Center for Australia visiting research facilities at UMass Lowell including the Fabric Discovery Center.

Above: Professor Alkim Akyurtlu and Assistant Professor Oshadha Ranasingha provided tour of RURI to Space Centre Australia guests.

Below: Professor Ramaswamy Nagarajan and his team at UMass Lowell's Fabric Discovery Center provide a tour to Space Centre Australia guests.

Post doctorial researcher, Sunip Mukherjee, readying remote setup of PICTURE-D for launch at Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

Post doctorial researcher, Sunip Mukherjee, readying remote setup of PICTURE-D for launch at Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

  • October 2025: CHARIOT, an instrument built by Post-Doctoral Researcher Sunip Mukherjee, successfully flew as a pathfinder and technology demonstration for the Chickadee CubeSat Bus aboard the PICTURE-D gondola. The instrument recorded environmental data and operated nominally throughout the flight. After recovery, CHARIOT was confirmed to remain fully functional, marking an important achievement that raised the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of both its hardware and software systems.
PICTURE-D getting ready to launch at Fort Sumner, New Mexico

PICTURE-D getting ready to launch at Fort Sumner, New Mexico.