Science
When did the very first star in the Univese form? How do urban heat islands affect the Phoenix metropolitan area? In the LoCo Lab, we're studying cool questions that span the known Universe!
Explore moreTechnology
From radio telescopes to cubesats to smartphone apps, we're developing new technology and techniques to help explore the Universe and improve science education. Did we mention the drones?
Read about our projectsLearning
In the LoCo Lab, we never stop learning. We love helping others learn, too. We're engaged in mentoring, teaching, and sharing our excitement for science and technology with our community.
Learn moreLoCos in the News!
Follow the links below to read about LoCos doing cool stuff!
Amy Zhao and coauthors awarded Best Paper in Track 3 of the 2025 IEEE Aerospace Conference
LoCo Ph.D. student, Amy Zhao, and coauthors (including LoCos Marc-O Lalonde and Titu Samson) were selected for their paper: “Pathfinding Low Frequency Radio Astronomy with the DORA Radio Background Experiment”.
Akshatha Vydula recognized with Bharat Gourav Puraskar – 35 under 35 NRI Achievers Award
LoCo Ph.D. student, Akshatha Vydula, was honored (represented by her mother) at ceremony in India featuring local, national, and international leaders. Congratulations, Akshatha!!
Prof. Danny Jacobs awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
Nominated by the National Science Foundation, he was recognized for his (very LoCo!) work on developing observation tools with the potential to see the universe during its early years when stars were originally forming. Read more
LoCo Ph.D. student Katherine Elder headed to new job at NRAO
Following the completion of her Ph.D. thesis investigating mutual coupling of MWA phased array antenna tiles, Katherine will head to Socorro, New Mexico to begin her new position helping to develop the next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) radio telescope system.
DORA successfully deployed from ISS
The DORA cubesat was successfully deployed on October 8, 2024. Track the project’s status on the interplanetarylab.github.io website. Read more
DORA CubeSat ready to launch to International Space Station
ASU’s DORA CubeSat to be aboard upcoming space station resupply launch. The CubeSat is a test bed for communications technology and future low-frequency radio astronomy projects. Read more
Libby Berkhout selected as a Trottier Space Institute Fellow at McGill University
Having completed her Ph.D. in spring 2024, she is heading to McGill University in Montreal, where she will work on instrument development and digital signal processing for the Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio-transient Detector (CHORD).
LoCo professor Danny Jacobs promoted to full professor with tenure
Professor Danny Jacobs was recognized for his leadership in 21cm cosmology, including as Project Scientist of the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), and for his contributions to the development of small satellites at ASU, including LightCube, DORA, and SPARCS.
DORA cubesat delivered to NanoRacks for integration
The ASU student team has successfully integrated the spacecraft into the deployer assembly at the NanoRacks facilities in Houston, Texas. The cubesat will be carried to the International Space Station onboard the Cygnus NG-21 resupply mission flown on a SpaceX Falcon9 rocket later this summer.
SPARCS mission spacecraft bus delivered to ASU for final assembly
The ASU team that is building the NASA-funded Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat, or SPARCS, cleared a major milestone this week — receiving its spacecraft bus at the School of Earth and Space Exploration on the Tempe campus. Read more here.
Steven Murray awarded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship in Europe
In 2023, Murray will head to the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa in Italy where he plans to conduct research with Prof. Andrei Mesinger and collaborators into modeling and analysis of early galaxy evolution, building on the popular 21CMFast semi-numerical simulation code he has helped to develop. He will also investigate techniques for jointly analyzing redshifted 21cm observations from HERA, EDGES and other experiments.
LoCo professor Daniel Jacobs selected for prestigious NSF CAREER award
Assistant Professor Daniel Jacobs to receive the prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program award. Jacobs and his team plan to develop advanced instrument calibration tools and techniques for two 21cm cosmology instruments currently under construction at the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) and the Owens Valley Long Wavelength Array (OVRO-LWA).