Welcome to the web home of the radio and plasma wave research group at The University of Iowa Department of Physics and Astronomy founded by Professor Donald Gurnett. We are one of several space physics research groups here in the department with a heritage including the very first successful U.S. orbital launch of Explorer 1 in 1958 carrying Professor Van Allen's cosmic ray instrument.
Check out the space audio page presenting a variety of "sounds of space" collected by several of our spacecraft projects.
Please let us know about any problems you discover with our web pages or online applications by contacting the maintainers listed at the bottom of pages.
General Information
- What We Do
- Who We Are
- Radio & Plasma Wave Tutorials
- Publications and Abstracts
- The Origins of Space Radio and Plasma Wave Research at the University of Iowa
- Search Our Web Pages
Current Spacecraft Projects
- Juno (2011- )
- Cluster 2 (Rumba, Salsa, Samba, Tango) (2000- )
- Voyager 1 & 2 (1977- )
Past Spacecraft Projects
- Van Allen Probes A & B (2012-2019)
- Mars Express (2003- )
- Cassini (1997-2017)
- Polar (1996-2008)
- Geotail (1992-2022)
- Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) (1990-1991)
- Galileo (1989-2003)
- Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracing Explorer (AMPTE) (1984-1986)
- Plasma Diagnostic Package (PDP) (1982, 1985)
- Dynamics Explorer (DE) 1 (1981-1991)
- International Sun-Earth Explorers (ISEE) 1, 2, & 3 (1977-1997)
- Helios 1 & 2 (1974-1985)
- Hawkeye (1974-1978)
- Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) 8 (1973-2006)
- Small Scientific Satellite (SSS or S3) A (1971-1974)
- Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) 6 (1971-1974)
- Injun 5 (Iowa 5) (1968-1971)
- Injun 3 (Iowa 3) (1962-1963)
Suborbital Rockets
- Vlf trans-Ionospheric Propagation Experiment Rocket (VIPER) (2021)
- Spear 3 pressure gauge (1993)
- Spear 1 pressure gauge (1987)
- Javelin 8:46 experiment (1968)
- Javelin 8:45 experiment (1967)
Data System Projects
- Planetary Data System (PDS PPI Outer Planets Subnode)
- Space Physics Data System (SPDS UI-SPDC)
- das2: Data Analysis System, including Autoplot
- Space Physics Research Wiki
- SPDR computing environment