University of Michigan SPRL

The Space Physics Research Laboratory (SPRL) at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, is one of the United States' oldest and most distinguished space instrumentation groups, founded in 1958 — the same year NASA was established. SPRL has contributed instruments to dozens of landmark NASA and ESA missions over six decades, including the THEMIS and ARTEMIS missions studying Earth's magnetosphere and the lunar wake, the Van Allen Probes (formerly RBSP) characterizing radiation belt dynamics, Cassini's instruments at Saturn, and numerous ionospheric sounding rockets.

The lab specializes in plasma physics instrumentation: Langmuir probes, retarding potential analyzers, electron spectrometers, and ion mass spectrometers that measure in-situ particle populations in space plasmas. SPRL is embedded in the University of Michigan's College of Engineering and collaborates closely with the university's Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering (CLASP) department. It remains active in cubesat-scale plasma science missions and university-led instrument development for future planetary and heliospheric missions.