Space Sciences Laboratory
Coordinates: 37°52′49.08″N 122°14′38.68″W / 37.8803000°N 122.2440778°W
The Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) is an Organized Research Unit of the University of California, Berkeley. It is located in the Berkeley Hills above the university campus. It has developed and continues to develop many projects in the space sciences.
SSL developed and maintains the SETI@home project which pioneered the application of distributed computing to the space sciences.
It created the related projects Stardust@home and BOINC.
It is home to the Space Physics Research Group, which does plasma physics research.
It has developed many satellite missions and serves as a ground station for those missions. Some of the satellites it has developed are:
It does science education outreach via the Center for Science Education (CSE).
The Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) at Berkeley, California was initiated in 1958 by a committee of faculty members who recognized that emerging rocket and satellite technology opened up new investigative realms for the physical, biological, and engineering sciences. The committee, chaired first by Professor Otto Struve of the Department of Astronomy and subsequently by Professor Edward Teller of the Department of Physics and the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, explored with faculty members the opportunities associated with space research as well as the impact of rapidly escalating national space exploration programs (i.e. NASA) on graduate study and research. The committee proposed the formation of a Space Sciences Laboratory which, as a campus-wide multidisciplinary organization, would serve to integrate the space sciences on campus and stimulate new faculty-student research programs. The Regents, acting on the recommendation of Chancellor Glenn T. Seaborg and President Clark Kerr, authorized the formation of the Laboratory in 1959.
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