News and Events
UCF GOLD Project Makes Critical Step on Path to Space
ORLANDO, April 07, 2015 – A contract award to SES Government Solutions puts UCF’s Global-Scale Observations of Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission on track to launch no earlier than Fall, 2017. The award, made by the University of Colorado, a partner in the project, will give the GOLD payload the ride it needs to geostationary …
OSIRIS-REx Launch – September 8, 2016
September 13, 2016 The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft lifted off from Florida’s Space Coast as planned on the evening of the 8th of September. The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket took off and rose into a clear blue sky, leaving white trails behind it. The spacecraft is now headed to the asteroid Bennu, where it will explore …
A Milestone For GOLD Project – GOLD Successfully Passed The Pre Environmental Review
June 2016: “GOLD successfully passed the Pre Environmental Review. As you know this is a milestone review for the mission, where the team presents a complete and comprehensive presentation of the plans for environmental testing before delivery later this year for integration onto the spacecraft.” http://www.gold-mission.org/ Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD)
The Florida Space Institute And The Center For Lunar And Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS) Participated In NASA’s Robotic Mining Competition
June 2016: The Florida Space Institute and the Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS) participated in NASA’s Robotic Mining Competition at the Kennedy Space Center, May 16-20, 2016. Philip Metzger of FSI was a regolith judge in the arena, evaluating performance of the mining robots. Lessons learned from the performance of the robots is …
The Florida Space Institute in Collaboration With Deep Space Industries Has Won A NASA Contract, “Extruded Clay-Based Regoliths For Construction On Mars, Phobos And NEAs
June 2016: The Florida Space Institute in collaboration with Deep Space Industries has won a NASA contract, “Extruded Clay-Based Regoliths for Construction on Mars, Phobos and NEAs,” to develop the technology to 3D print buildings, radiation shields, landing pads, or roads with naturally-occurring phyllosilicate clays on those planetary bodies. This phase-1 study is worth approximately …
The Florida Space Institute (FSI) And The Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS) Had A Major Presence At The Biannual Earth And Space Conference
June 2016: Researchers at the Florida Space Institute and the Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS) from UCF had a major presence at the biannual Earth & Space conference, arguably the world’s premier conference on space mining and planetary construction. Together, UCF researchers authored or co-authored more than 10% of the papers and …
“UCF Physics Professor Named to NASA Mission, Lands Grant for Space Mining” – Article In UCF TODAY
April 2016 “UCF physics professor Dan Britt has been named to the New Horizons mission team as the spacecraft heads to the Kuiper Belt. He’s also just landed a grant to help create fake asteroid material, which will help NASA and private companies prepare the technology needed to mine asteroids and eventually other planets. “It’s been a …
New Publication By FSI Associate In Planetary Science Research Gal Sarid, et al., Titled: Erosive Hit-and-Run Impact Events: Debris Unbound
April 2016: Title: Erosive Hit-and-Run Impact Events: Debris Unbound Authors: Sarid, Stewart & Leinhardt Full details and links to text sources: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016IAUS..318….9S
FSI Assistant Director’s Experiment Successfully Launched Into Suborbital Space Aboard Blue Origin’s Rocket
April 2, 2016: “Yes! Followed by a high five. That was University of Central Florida Physics Professor Joshua Colwell’s reaction as he watched the successful launch into suborbital space of his experiment aboard Blue Origin’s (https://www.blueorigin.com/) New Shepard space vehicle. “We have been waiting for this day for a long time,” Colwell said. “A lot …
FSI In Collaboration With Honeybee Robotics Has Demonstrated The Feasibility Of A System To Refuel Small Spacecraft
April 2016: The Florida Space Institute in collaboration with Honeybee Robotics has demonstrated the feasibility of a system to refuel small spacecraft (such as Cubesats) during their missions while exploring icy worlds or certain types of asteroids. The system extracts water from the local environment and immediately uses it as rocket propellant to hop to …
FSI Assistant Director Interviewed On WUCF (PBS) For A Story Regarding CubeSats
January 28, 2016 – Assistant Director of FSI, Dr. Joshua Colwell, and Assistant Professor of Physics, Dr. Adrienne Dove, were recently interviewed on WUCF, a PBS television station in Central Florida, for a story regarding CubeSats. To watch the interview or the full story click the links below. https://youtu.be/y5QEhk8_bGA – YouTube link for just the story …