Created in 1987, the Department of Space Studies is housed in the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences (JDOSAS) Complex, located on the west end of the campus of the University of North Dakota. The University of North Dakota is a moderately-sized state university that is situated on 570 wooded and landscaped acres in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

The JDOSAS was originally established in 1983 to house the department of Aviation, Atmospheric Sciences and Computer Sciences. Today, JODSAS is proud of its status as the most technologically advanced collegiate environment for aerospace education in the world. JDOSAS is situated on an $83 million aerospace complex featuring some of the most advanced training facilities and hardware available today.

The Department of Space Studies is on the fifth floor of the 71,500-square-foot Clifford Hall Earth System Science Building. Built in 1992, Clifford Hall is connected to the rest of the Aerospace Complex by an elevated, enclosed walkway. Clifford Hall also houses the academic department of Atmospheric Sciences and the Regional Scientific Computing Center (SCC), which manages the extensive computing and network infrastructure of the JDOSAS, and a state-of-the-art 360° Air Traffic Control Simulator.