“We at the Florida Space Institute support the goals of the Google Lunar X-Prize and are proud to be helping Earthrise Space accomplish its ambitions,” said Florida Space Institute Director Dr. Alan Stern.

The equipment, already installed at ESI’s facility in Research Park near the şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą, will be used to test hardware for the company’s GLXP mission to get to the moon. The 80 square foot class 100k clean room will be used for spacecraft assembly. The cylindrical 2ft x 2ft vacuum chamber will be used to outgas spacecraft components and to test the full scale flight rover. The thermal chamber, capable of producing temperatures between -300oF and +600oF, will be used to ensure that spacecraft components can withstand the extreme temperatures found in outer space.

“We are excited to welcome the Florida Space Institute as our latest partner in the Omega Envoy project,” said Joseph Palaia, Chief Operating Officer for ESI. “The equipment they have provided will be put to direct use by our student team members as they build and test hardware for our GLXP mission. We also look forward to exploring additional areas for collaboration with FSI to pursue our very synergistic corporate objectives.”

The Florida Space Institute, located next to the UCF in Research Park, is one of Florida’s premier technical education centers, and a growing leader in space research in Florida. Located near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, FIT is perfectly situated to channel highly-trained professionals and cutting-edge technology into the classroom.

Earthrise Space, Inc. is a Florida-based non-profit corporation dedicated to developing space technology in collaboration with industry and academic institutions. ESI’s Omega Envoy Project is creating a key set of lunar spacecraft infrastructure, which will fulfill the requirements of the Google Lunar X PRIZE and provide a platform for the delivery of commercial payloads to the lunar surface. All ESI efforts involve significant numbers of students and young professionals through paid internships, providing them with hands on experience building real spacecraft, and preparing them for future employment in the entrepreneurial space industry.

For more information, visit https://lunar.xprize.org/teams/omega-envoy.

Earthrise Space, an Orlando non-profit launched by aerospace engineering students and advisers, may not win the race to the moon but it has achieved several milestones, including snagging a NASA contract that could be worth $10 million.

NASA is trying to spur private industry participation in space exploration, and the agency has agreed to buy data from Earthrise and five other companies working on lunar robot projects. The contracts are worth at least $10,000 each and as much as $10 million. “This is huge for us. It gives us more credibility,” says Ruben Nuñez, a senior engineering major at the şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą and a founder of Earthrise and its lunar rover project called Omega Envoy.

Debra Reinhart, assistant vice president for research in the Office of Research and Commercialization at UCF, says the lunar project has the support of the school’s Florida Space Institute.

Earthrise and the other NASA contract winners are among dozens of companies, university consortiums and groups participating in a race-to-space competition called the Google Lunar X Prize. The $20-million grand prize will go to the first competitor to land a robot on the moon, explore at least 500 meters and send video and images back to Earth.

“The moon is the end goal, but they don’t have to get to the moon to succeed. They’re getting turned on to space, and they’re building real space hardware right now,” says Joseph Palaia, an Earthrise board member and vice president of operations for 4 Frontiers Inc., a space technology and consulting company in New Port Richey.

Palaia helped test one of its rovers on a remote island near Greenland in 2009, beaming signals to student controllers in Orlando. The students from UCF and Embry Riddle Aeronautical şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą in Daytona Beach are crafting a more advanced rover and keeping their eyes on the sky.

“We’re aiming high,” Nuñez says.

Source: Florida Trend, , by Jerry Jackson – 1/1/2011