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Through participation in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, new curriculum and industry connections, UCF students are developing solutions to challenges with living in space.

UCF is advancing cutting-edge space research while offering unique opportunities for students to launch their careers in the space industry.

Planetary Scientist Phil Metzger ’00MS ’05PhD and doctoral candidate Brandon Dotson analyzed samples and data from the first SpaceX Starship launchpad blast to determine methods of improving lunar launches.

Some of Metzger’s latest inventions are designed to help cost-effectively gather, use and manage resources, such as ice for water and fuel and lunar soil for building materials.

This is the 11th year that UCF has ranked in the top 100 universities in the world for patents.

Lunar landing pads will have to keep people and equipment from being sandblasted by moon dust and particles traveling at more than 10,000 miles per hour as a rocket takes off or lands.

Space debris can endanger spacecraft and damage satellites that are critical to everything from communication to GPS, air traffic control, surveillance and national security.

As NASA makes its second launch attempt for the Artemis I mission, planetary scientist Phil Metzger ’00MS’05PhD — who worked on the Space Shuttle program Launch Team — shares insight on launch preparations and scrubs.

More than 20 faculty and researchers and dozens of students and alumni are working on multiple projects that support America’s space program and NASA’s return to the moon — including the Artemis 1 mission launching this year.