Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences


The Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences is a research center on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

About the Space Center

Founded in 2000, the Space Center is a partnership of six departments from four colleges. It contains the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Planetary Simulation, which is used primarily for the study of Mars, asteroids, Pluto, and Titan. The center also has an astronomy group, that specializes in galactic evolution, binary stars, and gravity waves, and it has groups interested in planetary astronomy, cosmochemistry, astrobiology, remote sensing, planetary morphology, and space flight instrument development. The Center offers two graduate degrees, a PhD and an MS in space and planetary sciences and four concentrations in space and planetary sciences in programs offered by its partnering departments. The Space Center offers courses of research and instruction for undergraduate students and a variety of outreach programs for the public. The center owns a 20-foot planetarium for teaching and outreach, which is currently out of operation. The Center also produces a monthly newsletter and a quarterly publication, Meteorite. The center celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2010.
The center houses the Paragould meteorite, the third largest meteorite from North America, since 1988, except for a short period when it was in the Mullins Library.

Old Field House

Since 2003 the Space Center has been housed in the old museum building, formerly the field house used for the Razorbacks basketball team until the construction of Barnhill Arena. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
On September 5, 2012, it was announced that the building will be re-purposed to be a concert hall for the performing arts, thanks in part to a donation of $6 million by Jim and Joyce Faulkner.