{"id":124801,"date":"2021-12-06T15:03:49","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T20:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=124801"},"modified":"2021-12-06T15:03:49","modified_gmt":"2021-12-06T20:03:49","slug":"ucf-part-of-historic-move-to-build-space-ports-around-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-part-of-historic-move-to-build-space-ports-around-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Part of Historic Move to Build Space Ports Around Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s move to develop new destinations<\/a> in space announced Dec. 2 is an exciting moment in history and UCF is right in the middle of it.<\/p>\n

UCF is a member of the academic coalition that is supporting Blue Origin\u2019s Orbital Reef project to build a commercially owned and\u00a0operated space station to reside in low-Earth orbit. It is expected to start operating in the second half of this decade.<\/p>\n

Orbital Reef\u2019s team include Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering, with Arizona State 海角直播 leading a coalition of universities, including UCF. Orbital Reef\u2019s human-centered space architecture is designed to be a \u201cmixed-use space business park\u201d that provides essential infrastructure needed to support all types of human spaceflight activity in low-Earth orbit and can be scaled to serve new markets.<\/p>\n

But advising is just the latest contributions UCF is making toward the future of space exploration. For more than a decade UCF has been home to the Center for Microgravity Research and Education<\/a>, which has been conducting research into microgravity environments and how planets form. UCF’s experiments have flown aboard multiple commercial spacecraft including several Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic flights.<\/p>\n

UCF has flown experiments on the International Space Station. In addition to studying scientific questions such as the origins of planets, UCF’s experiments explore the behavior of dust particles on and near the surfaces of the moon and asteroids. These tiny particles can create big problems for astronauts and their equipment, and UCF experiments are helping us learn how to minimize those risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are learning is helping us unravel the mystery of planet formation,\u201d says Physics Professor Joshua Colwell who leads the center. \u201cIt can also help us figure out ways to keep our astronauts safe while they explore. The knowledge will be critical for successful interactions with destinations in space, whether they be on an asteroid, a planet or a new space port.\u201d<\/p>\n

UCF is also home to the Florida Space Institute (FSI), which has several researchers working on payloads with commercial space companies. The Florida Space Grant, managed by FSI and UCF also funds Edu-Payloads\u00a0\u2014 payloads built primarily by students with faculty mentorship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an exciting time and UCF is well positioned,\u201d says Elizabeth Klonoff, vice president of Research for UCF. \u201cThe center has already put payloads on other major destinations such as the ISS and on suborbital flights. These new platforms coming online in the next decade provide even more opportunities for synergies in research with our partners that will make a real impact on our future as a species.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UCF Board of Trustees just last month approved renaming the center in honor of Stephen W. Hawking<\/a>, who early on recognized the importance of microgravity research. Space Florida, which arranged for Hawking to fly aboard a zero-gravity flight and connected him to UCF, will take a final vote on the naming of the center later this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UCF is part of Blue Origins\u2019 Orbital Reef project, one of three proposals NASA selected to develop space destinations within our lifetime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":117220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,23,24],"tags":[982,1775,2557,14916,4361],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-124801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-research","category-science-technology","tag-college-of-sciences","tag-florida-space-instit","tag-joshua-colwell","tag-research","tag-space"],"yoast_head":"\nUCF Part of Historic Move to Build Space Ports Around Earth | 海角直播 News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UCF is part of Blue Origins\u2019 Orbital Reef 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