Keck Institute for Space Studies

The Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) was established at Caltech in January 2008 with a $24 million grant over 8 years from the W. M. Keck Foundation. The Institute is a "think and do tank," whose primary purpose is to bring together a broad spectrum of scientists and engineers for sustained technical interaction aimed at developing new space mission concepts and technology.

The best expertise from Caltech, JPL, and the wider scientific and technical community, is convened at the Institute to conduct in-depth technical studies in focused areas of science and technology. These studies must concentrate on ideas that have the capability for revolutionary advances in space mission capability. Once a key innovation/challenge for a new mission or instrument concept is identified, the Institute then funds the initial steps towards making progress on that key innovation/challenge.

Three Study Programs are currently supported by the Institute in the 2008–2009 academic year:

New Directions in Robotic Exploration of Mars
Large Space Structures
Coherent Instrumentation for Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Observations

MMIC Array Receivers and Spectrographs Workshop is being held July 21-25 at Caltech. Click here for details.

Steering Committee

For more information contact