In The News

Photo: NASA

Columbia Space Initiative in the media.

[VIDEO] NASA EDGE: CubeSat Launch Initiative and the Mission Concepts Program

NASA | July 26 2023 | By NASA Edge

In this episode of NASA EDGE, we’ll hear how NASA’s Cubesat Launch Initiative, the University Nanosatellite Program, and many others are working together to help students develop, build, launch and operate their own small satellites to conduct Lunar, search and rescue, and even biological missions.....Read More

What a Blast!

Columbia News | July 7 2023 | By Press Office

The Columbia Space Initiative Rocketry team designed, built, and launched a hybrid rocket in one year for the first time in Columbia history! This past week, 20 members of the CSI rockets team travelled to New Mexico, representing Columbia at Spaceport America Cup, the world's largest intercollegiate rocket competition.....Read More

A Meet-and-Greet from the International Space Station

Columbia Engineering | May 18 2023 | By Press Office

Talk about a long-distance call! Space enthusiasts from across Columbia’s campus filled the Altschul Auditorium on April 21 for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to video call the International Space Station (ISS). Led by the Columbia Space Initiative, the 90-minute event featured a Q-and-A with NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg, who recently made his first expedition into space. Hoburg is currently on the ISS as part of NASA's Crew-6 mission.....Read More

AFRL, NASA partner with 8 universities for new Mission Concept Program

The Air Force Research Laboratory | May 12 2023 | By

The Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, and NASA announced their collaboration with eight universities for a new Mission Concept Program, or MCP, from Jan. 5 to Feb. 3, 2024.....Read More

Columbia University’s First Student-Organized Satellite Team Gets NASA Funding

Columbia News Service | Apr 27 2023 | By Miho Ouyou

A Columbia University satellite team is poised to take off, thanks to funding from NASA. At the end of March, Columbia University’s satellite development team was chosen as one of the eight universities, including Harvard College and Saint Louis University, for nanosatellite flight opportunities by NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative. This is the first time Columbia University has been selected for the program.....Read More

Columbia Space Initiative hosts live video call with Woody Hoburg, NASA astronaut currently stationed on the International Space Station

Columbia Spectator | Apr 24 2023 | By John Towfighi

The Columbia Space Initiative hosted a live video call on Friday with NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg, who is currently living and working onboard the International Space Station. Students gathered in the Frank Altschul Auditorium in the International Affairs Building to connect in real time with Hoburg, who orbits Earth at an altitude of around 250 miles.....Read More

Dispatches From The International Space Station With Astronaut Woody Hoburg

Columbia BWOG | Apr 23 2023 | By Elizabeth Walker

This past Friday, the Columbia Space Initiative hosted a once-in-a-lifetime video call with Astronaut Woody Hoburg live from the International Space Station to discuss the future of space exploration and life in outer space.....Read More

Columbia in space: NASA to launch student-built satellite

Columbia Spectator | Apr 14 2023 | By Lina Huang

NASA will launch the first satellite designed, built, and tested by Columbia students into orbit to survey the universe in the next few years. The satellite, a brainchild of Columbia Space Initiative and Columbia University Robotics Club, was accepted in late March to be launched by NASA.....Read More

NASA Selects University Nanosatellite Program Summer Series Winners

NASA Small Satellite Missions | Apr 7 2023 | By Danielle Sempsrott

NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) has partnered with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force to select eight schools for the University Nanosatellite Program (UNP) Mission Concepts-1: 2023 Summer Series.....Read More

NASA Announces Selection of Candidates for CubeSat Space Missions

NASA | Mar 30 2023 | By Danielle Sempsrott

NASA has selected eight small research satellites across seven states to fly to space helping address aspects of the agency’s education, science, or technology development goals.....Read More

Columbia Undergrads Launch Microbes into Space

Columbia Engineering | Dec 15 2021 | By Press Office

One of five teams selected by NASA, the Columbia group will send bacteria to the International Space Station to understand how low gravity impacts germs....Read More

Experiments Riding 24th SpaceX Cargo Mission to Space Station Study Bioprinting, Crystallization, Laundry

NASA | Dec 7 2021 | By Melissa Gaskill

The 24thSpaceX cargo resupply services mission, targeted to launch in late December from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carries scientific research and technology demonstrations to the International Space Station. The experiments aboard include studies of bioprinting, crystallization of monoclonal antibodies, changes in immune function, plant gene expression changes, laundering clothes in space, processing alloys, and student citizen science projects.....Read More

From A(stronomy) to Z(ines), Columbia Has a Club for You

Columbia News | Aug 25 2021 | By Kim Martineau

Columbia is home to an astonishing number of student clubs—more than 500 by our count. Whether baseball stats or tap dance is your jam, there’s a community here that shares your passion. Check out the offerings on Columbia Spectator’s new LionClubs website, LionLink, or Columbia undergraduate admissions site. Here are a few of the clubs that caught our eye.....Read More

Five University Teams Prepare to Liftoff with NASA’s Student Payload Opportunity With Citizen Science

NASA | Apr 27 2021 | By Sarah B. Smith

For the past year, students from five universities across the United States have been working to ready payloads for launch in late 2021 as a part of Student Payload Opportunity with Citizen Science (SPOCS).....Read More

Columbia Space Initiative Selected to Send Payload to Space Station

Columbia Engineering Magazine | Jan 12 2021 | By Jane Sims

Columbia Engineering is proud to announce that the Columbia Space Initiative (CSI) student club will send a payload to the International Space Station (ISS) this year, as one of five teams selected nationwide to participate in the NASA STEM on Station initiative.....Read More

Ideas Taking Flight

Columbia Engineering Magazine | Apr 18 2018 | By Jesse Adams

One breezy Saturday in late January, John Pederson '19SEAS and Lily Zhao '19SEAS met up with friends from the Columbia Space Initiative (CSI) and the Society of Women Engineers for a special mission. Their objective: to set aloft a giant black balloon....Read More

Columbians Reach for the Final Frontier

Columbia Engineering Magazine | Apr 13 2018 | By Jesse Adams

In just five semesters since launching the Columbia Space Initiative, students have invented futuristic technologies, won NASA competitions, and sent craft up to the stratosphere, all to help humanity explore the cosmos....Read More

ClubHop: Columbia Space Initiative

Columbia Bwog | Mar 09 2018 | By Alex Tang

Once thought impossible, space exploration is a definite reality of our present time, with initiatives such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX (goal to settle Mars) and NASA’s ongoing investigations into life outside of Earth. Columbia Space Initiative represents an eclectic group of individuals....Read More

Columbia Space Initiative Team Wins NASA Advanced Air Vehicles Challenge

Columbia Engineering Magazine | Sep 11 2017 | By Jesse Adams

A multidisciplinary team from the Columbia Space Initiative took first place at NASA’s Langley Advanced Air Vehicles Challenge with their design of a sleek and sustainable type of plane. Called the Gryphon, their aircraft incorporates a highly aerodynamic....Read More

Team Space: Columbia Space Initiative Takes Engineering to Extreme New Places

Columbia Engineering Magazine | Jun 21 2017 | By Jennifer Ernst Beaudry

Columbia Space Initiative (CSI), one of Columbia’s newest student clubs dedicated to all things space and space tech, is less than a year old, but it’s already seen success: The group presented a design for an asteroid anchor at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and competed....Read More

Columbia's cosmos: CU in Space exhibits student projects that intersect art and astronomy

Columbia Spectator | Apr 9 2017 | By Baily Nordin

The gray stone walls of Lerner Hall’s Broadway Room are not always lined with astrophotography and meter-wide scientific reports on the properties of dark matter. But at last Friday evening’s 'CU in Space' exhibition....Read More