UCF Fuels America’s Space Program with Innovative Education, Medicine and Tech UCF is advancing cutting-edge space research while offering unique opportunities for students to launch their careers in the space industry.
UCF Scientists Study Starship Launchpad in Preparation for Future NASA Lunar Missions 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.
Scientists Discover CO2 and CO Ices in Outskirts of Solar System A UCF-led research team’s findings revealed a vast presence of ancient carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide ices on trans-Neptunian objects, suggesting carbon dioxide may have existed at the formation of our solar system.
UCF Student’s Primitive Asteroids Work Provides Context for Further Research, Future NASA Missions Brittany Harvison studied the composition of families of ancient asteroids to better understand the history of our solar system and if they may have carried water to Earth.
Robot Rovers on the “Moon”: Lunabotics Challenge Preps Students for Space Careers College teams, including a group of Knights, will build robot rovers and compete at the new Regolith Bin at UCF’s Exolith Lab before the best crews advance to finals at Kennedy Space Center.
UCF Planetary Scientist’s Innovations Help Pave the Way for Economic Activity Beyond Earth 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.
The Idyllic Spot to Study the Sky After the collapse of the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, researchers from the Florida Space Institute found new ways — and a new place — to conduct critical space sciences.
UCF Scientists Use James Webb Space Telescope to Uncover Clues About Neptune’s Evolution Ana Carolina de Souza Feliciano and Noemí Pinilla-Alonso are part of a team that studies unique spectral properties of small celestial bodies beyond Neptune within the Kuiper Belt.
UCF Ranks 21st in U.S. Public Universities for Patents with 57 New Inventions in 2023 This is the 11th year that UCF has ranked in the top 100 universities in the world for patents.
UCF Researchers Help Find Evidence of Geothermal Activity within Icy Dwarf Planets The findings show the icy worlds Eris and Makemake are more internally evolved than once believed and set the stage for considering them as the most distant candidates for habitability in the solar system.
