In late January and early February, the Lunar-VISE team presented the key mission components including the science investigation, landing site and concept for operations at the lunar surface and the status of the instrument design, development and testing to an independent assessment team selected by NASA as part of its Critical Design Review (CDR). The team reached a significant milestone for the mission in passing all 13 review criteria for the key mission components as defined by NASA.

Shortly after the CDR, the team worked with NASA鈥檚 Planetary Missions Program Office to present the review鈥檚 results and mission progress at a key decision point meeting with Joel Kerns, deputy associate administrator for exploration and lead of NASA鈥檚 Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office. Kerns gave approval to proceed with the mission, which clears the way to continue with hardware development, testing and integration and delivery for launch in 2027.

As part of NASA鈥檚 Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, the mission will travel to the Gruithuisen domes where a multi-instrument payload on a lander and rover will measure the compositional and physical properties of dome-forming rocks and regolith (lunar dirt).

The Lunar-VISE mission is led by 麻豆原创鈥檚 principal investigator Kerri Donaldson Hanna, in collaboration with BAE Systems, Space & Mission Systems (BAE), the University of Colorado Boulder and Arizona State University (ASU). The ASU team, led by Professor Craig Hardgrove, is providing the gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer for the Lunar-VISE rover.

鈥淭he Lunar-VISE Gamma Ray Neutron Spectrometer (LV-GRNS) instrument is derived from the neutron spectrometer that was developed for the LunaH-Map mission, which launched in November 2022 and successfully collected lunar flyby neutron measurements,鈥� Hardgrove says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking forward to continuing instrument development to be able to make these exciting measurements for the first time on the lunar surface.鈥�

The mission’s objective is to study how the domes were formed and provide greater insight on the creation and composition of the lunar surface. Over a 10 Earth day investigation, the instruments built by BAE Systems and ASU will gather data on the mysterious silica-rich rocks making up the volcanic domes and their high concentration of heat producing elements like thorium. This data will determine their viability as resources in future missions and explorations of the lunar surface.

鈥淭he most rewarding aspect of passing the critical design review and key decision point milestones is knowing that all the hard work put in by the whole Lunar-VISE team successfully demonstrated that we can work together to build instruments that will accomplish our science and exploration goals at the Gruithuisen domes,鈥� Donaldson Hanna says.

The team is currently working on addressing the independent assessment team鈥檚 request for actions to ensure that the instruments are properly designed to survive launch, the journey to the Moon and soft landing and operations at the lunar surface.

Later this year, the team expects NASA to put out the call for proposals from lander and rover providers to softly land the mission at the lunar surface for its investigation.

鈥淭he next step for the Lunar-VISE engineers is the building and testing of instruments and for the science team, we will be continuing to characterize our landing site and prioritizing science at the surface,鈥� Donaldson Hanna says.

This is the sixth time 麻豆原创 has had experiments fly aboard New Shepard, with previous flights in August 2021, January, May and December of 2019 and April 2016. The studies are among several dozen research payloads on NS-24, New Shepard鈥檚 24^th mission.

Bone Loss in Space

麻豆原创 College of Medicine biomedical engineer Melanie Coathup is partnering with Michael Kinzel, an associate professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, to understand how the absence of gravity in space impacts the bones of space travelers.

鈥淲hen you’re in microgravity, there’s a change in characteristics of fluid flow and we鈥檙e trying to find out if that includes the fluid flow in our bodies, particularly through our bones,鈥� says Coathup, who heads 麻豆原创鈥檚 Biionix faculty cluster initiative, an interdisciplinary team developing innovative materials, processes, and interfaces to support health and well-being.

Microgravity-induced bone loss is a health risk for space travelers and long-term goals of human space exploration and colonization. NASA research has shown that astronauts who stay in space for extended periods can lose up to 1% to 2% of bone density per month, primarily in weight-bearing bones like the spine, hips and legs. That compares to bone loss of 0.5% to 1% per year in aging men and post-menopausal women on Earth. This significant bone loss can place space travelers at risk for bone fracture and an early-onset spaceflight-induced osteoporosis.

Coathup theorizes that while on Earth, gravity exerts a constant mechanical load to the skeletal system whenever we sit, walk or stand, which causes a tiny amount of fluid to flow in and out of bones.

鈥淥n Earth, when we bear weight on our bones, it forces fluid into the tissue and then as we take off the ground, water draws back out. So that applies a mechanical stimulus to our cells that sends nutrients into the bone and then removes waste products as well,鈥� Coathup says.

鈥淲e predict that in microgravity, in the absence of weight-bearing, there’s very little fluid movement, which stops or reduces that mechanical stimulus that sends nutrients in and stops waste products from going out and we believe this may contribute to bone damage,鈥� she says.

This New Shepard mission does not have crew, but human subjects are highly complex and difficult to understand. So, the 麻豆原创 researchers are combining medical and mechanical engineering technology to develop novel models that directly focus the study of human bone behavior to fluidic character in microgravity. Coathup is gathering the small-scale porous structure of bones using medical technology (CT Scans). These geometries are being used by Kinzel鈥檚 group to create a microfluidic chip to represent this geometry. These microfluidic chips are miniature flow channels that include artificial capillaries using advanced 3D printing technology. Fluid and tiny beads are pumped through the chip to mimic the proteins and solutes in blood. The goal is to develop comparisons of the flow in these bone-like chips in microgravity to the behavior in various orientations in normal gravity on Earth.

鈥淲e expect to see that the presence of gravity enhances micro-scale mixing needed to support healthy bones,鈥� Kinzel says.

The experiment is not a perfect representation of a real bone, but rather a simplified model to help researchers understand mechanisms. The size of the beads and capillaries are much larger in the experiment than in people鈥檚 bodies.

鈥淭o accommodate this, we plan to use high-end computational modeling to scale down the experiment to a real human bone,鈥� Kinzel says.

Kinzel, an expert in computational fluid dynamics, leads the team that is creating the microchip and its platform.

The overall study is led by imec, an international nano- and digital technology research organization. The study is primarily focused on demonstrating imec鈥檚 lens-free microscope technology in a space environment. 麻豆原创 and imec collaborated to formulate research questions to demonstrate the added value of these new microscopes, which are both smaller and lighter than conventional ones, for future biological testing on the International Space Station.

Coathup has dedicated much of her research to figuring out how bones are impacted by aging and environmental stressors such as space flight, and is working on developing new technologies and therapies that can protect, repair or rebuild damaged bones.

Her collaboration with Kinzel is one of numerous payloads on this flight funded by NASA primarily through the NASA Flight Opportunities program. These payloads are helping researchers better understand the capabilities of living and working in space.

Dust Behavior in Microgravity

This project 鈥� titled Electrostatic Regolith Interaction Experiment (ERIE) 鈥� examines charged dust behavior in microgravity and also tests sensors that will characterize the charging behavior of dust in a lunar-like environment.

Key to these experiments is the several minutes of microgravity provided by the Blue Origin flight.

The research is led by Adrienne Dove, an associate professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Physics, in collaboration with researchers at NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Center.

The sensors are being developed by collaborators at Kennedy to be used on lunar missions, such as on rover wheels, where they could measure charge on dust grains in natural lunar environments.

The results can inform strategies to keep lunar dust from damaging electronics, solar cells and mechanical equipment, and even human suits and systems during lunar missions.

The research is funded through NASA鈥檚 Flight Opportunities Program within its Space Technology Mission Directorate.

Seismic Wave Propagation in Asteroids

This project, titled Microgravity Experiment for the Speed of Sound (MESS), is examining how seismic waves and shaking can modify the surface and interior of an asteroid, and impact-induced seismicity can dictate surface features as well as overall shape and compactness changes within the asteroid.

The research is led by Julie Brisset, a research scientist and interim director of the Florida Space Institute (FSI) at 麻豆原创. Brisset researches dust behavior under microgravity conditions for the study of planet formation and regolith.

This work is important since the mechanical structure and dynamical behavior of small asteroids can retain clues to the early processes taking place during planet formation times.

In this experiment, simulated asteroid granular material that had been placed into three separate containers has sound waves generated into them, and their speeds are recorded while in the microgravity environment of the New Shepard rocket.

Three types of asteroid material simulant are used in the experiment: fine grains (about 0.1 millimeter), millimeter-, and centimeter-sized grains.

These simulants are routinely prepared at principal investigator Brisset鈥檚 lab at 麻豆原创鈥檚 Florida Space Institute.

Undergraduate students assembled the payload, and over the course of its design and implementation, a total of about 10 undergraduate students participated for a project duration of five semesters, with graduating students training new arrivals on the team.

鈥淪tudents were not only trained in hands-on skills in their respective areas of expertise and integrated teamwork, but also in mentoring and project management as well,鈥� Brisset says. 鈥淭hey learned to handle deadlines and project documentation, and overall, had an exceptional experience preparing them for their post-graduation professional life.鈥�

Researchers鈥� Backgrounds

Coathup received her doctorate in orthopedic implant fixation from University College London and joined 麻豆原创 in 2017. Before coming to 麻豆原创, she worked at the University College of London for 17 years. Her work includes the development of a novel synthetic bone substitute material Inductigraft to boost bone repair and regeneration, which is mainly used in spinal fusion surgery and marketed by Baxter Healthcare. Her research excellence has been recognized internationally through her publications and through receiving several prestigious UK, European and international prizes from her peers.

Kinzel received his doctorate in aerospace engineering from Pennsylvania State University and joined 麻豆原创 in 2018. In addition to being a member of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a part of 麻豆原创鈥檚聽College of Engineering and Computer Science, he also works with 麻豆原创鈥檚聽Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research.

Dove received her doctorate in astrophysical and planetary sciences from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her bachelor鈥檚 degree in physics and astronomy from the University of Missouri. She joined 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Physics, part of the聽College of Sciences, in 2012. In 2017聽Dove was awarded the Susan Niebur Early Career Award by the NASA Solar System Exploration Virtual Research Institute (SSERVI) for her contributions to the science and exploration communities. She has also received 麻豆原创鈥檚 Reach for the Stars Award and Luminary Award.

Brisset earned her master鈥檚 degrees in aerospace engineering in 2005 from the Institut Sup茅rieur de l’A茅ronautique et de l’Espace in Toulouse, France, and the Technical University of Munich. After working for several years as an aerospace engineer on European Space Agency International Space Station payload operations, she started graduate studies in astrophysics at the University of Braunschweig, Germany and received her doctoral degree in 2014.

Forward Anzhan茅 Hutton attempts a jump shot to score in the Addition Financial Arena. 麻豆原创 defeated Wichita State 59-56.

Kareem Ahmed, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, is the principal investigator of a new Naval Research Laboratory-funded project to create a morphing hypersonic engine for ultra-fast travel.

The 麻豆原创/Universal Creative Lab, which launched Spring 2023, brings immersive design learning experiences to students to cultivate the next generation of themed entertainment innovators. The class opened to graduate students in 麻豆原创鈥檚 , which is directed by Professor Peter Weishar.

Pushing the frontier of space research, Associate Professor of Physics Adrienne Dove is co-leading NASA鈥檚 $35 million science mission to the moon鈥檚 Gruithuisen Domes, which is expected to launch in 2026.

A participant in the 15th annual 麻豆原创 Iron Knight Challenge drags weights across a field in a race to complete eight physical fitness tasks along a military-style obstacle course.

Forward Taylor Hendricks is 麻豆原创 men鈥檚 basketball鈥檚 third NBA Draft selection in program history. Hendricks was selected by the Utah Jazz with the No. 9 overall pick of the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft.

Jane Gibson, from聽the College of Medicine, was selected as one of four聽2023 Pegasus Professors, the university鈥檚 highest faculty honor. Professors Stephen Fiore, Jennifer Kent-Walsh and Marianna Pensky were also selected.

Rapper and singer Doechii performed at 麻豆原创est Concert Knight presented by Campus Activities Board at the Addition Financial Arena.

During 麻豆原创 Celebrates the Arts 鈥� a multi-day showcase of creativity 鈥� student cellists and other 麻豆原创 musicians performed orchestral classics at the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts.

Backstage during a 麻豆原创 Celebrates the Arts production at the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts in downtown Orlando.

Ballet dancers captivated the stage during TECH-nique: A Dance Concert at 麻豆原创 Celebrates the Arts, which focused on the intersection of arts and technology this year.

Knights posed for photos in the Student Union during 麻豆原创 Day of Giving 2023; an impactful celebration that ended with Knight Nation raising over $6.8 million 鈥� the most in university history 鈥� to support our local community, fund life-changing scholarships, power championship athletics, build 21st century learning facilities, fuel innovative research and enhance the university鈥檚 global reputation.

A graduate from Spring 2023 commencement celebrates with loved ones.

麻豆原创 students spend a day outdoors in downtown Orlando, which ranks as the No. 1 Best College City in Florida, according to WalletHub.

Principal Investigator and Associate Professor of聽Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering聽Helen Huang works with student Jordan Grubb to understand how the brain and body work together 鈥� valuable research to assist those with impaired movement.

The Charging Knight statue 鈥� representative of 麻豆原创鈥檚 excellence in academics, its partnerships with the community and its athletics program 鈥� sits near the main entrance of FBC Mortgage Stadium.

College of Optics and Photonics Associate Professor Kyu Young Han works with doctoral student Katelyn Canedo聽鈥�16 in the , which focuses on optical nanoscopy. Han is an expert in designing new optical tools for biological applications, including ones that could aid in the understanding of human protein linked to diseases.

Student researchers gain hands-on experience with lasers in a lab in the College of Optics and Photonics.

Two students take a selfie with Knightro during the Welcome Back Popsicle Social event hosted by the Office of the President at the Reflecting Pond on the first day of the fall semester.

Political science student Sebastian Jimenez dives into a book outside of the John C. Hitt Library 鈥� carrying on the late president emeritus鈥� core belief that education transforms lives.

Jersey Shore star and DJ, Pauly D, gets the crowd pumped during his pregame set at Bounce House Live at IOA Plaza before 麻豆原创 football鈥檚 first Big 12 home game.

Fans filled FBC Mortgage Stadium for the first Big 12 home football game against Baylor.

The School of Modeling, Simulation and Training secured an advanced dog-like robot named TapeMeasure 鈥� allowing them to bring students, faculty and new technology together for聽innovative research聽and teaching.

麻豆原创 Creative School for Children held a foam splash event to provide its own Spirit Splash-like experience for preschoolers during Homecoming Week.

Knightro surfed over a crowd of students at Spirit Splash during Homecoming Week.

Knights charged into the Reflecting Pond to catch coveted homecoming rubber ducks at Spirit Splash.

During Spirit Splash, the dance team amped up the crowd before Knights rushed into the Reflecting Pond.

Knightro hyped up the crowd from the sidelines at the homecoming football game against West Virginia.

Assistant Professor of Theme Park and Attraction Management Carissa Baker (middle) works with students to understand theme park storytelling. Baker is a 2023 Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching awardee.

Track and field sprinters Latasha Smith (left) and I鈥橝sia Wilson (right) pose with their collection of championship rings at a tailgate event before 麻豆原创 football鈥檚 Space Game.

Football in tow, tight end Alec Holler moves up the field during 麻豆原创鈥檚 annual Space Game. The Knights defeated Oklahoma State, 45-3, marking their seventh consecutive win since the Space Game debuted in 2017.

As the university grew in enrollment over the decades, so did the programs around the campus, as well as the campus itself. Space research was part of the expansion. While 麻豆原创 had done research and served as a talent pipeline for the space industry, the administration wanted to extend its reach even further. In August 2002, Humberto Campins, Pegasus Professor in the Department of Physics, joined the university as provost research professor of physics and astronomy and head of the Planetary and Space Science Group. Campins joined the university with an extensive research background in asteroids, comets and small planetary bodies. While at the University of Arizona from 1998 to 2002, he was part of a team that submitted a proposal that became the OSIRIS REx mission,聽the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid.

Campins would be tasked with developing the planetary sciences program, though it took a few times to get him to join 麻豆原创. As Florida Space Grant Consortium director from 1994 to 1998, Campins got to know former professor and department chair Brian Tonner. Tonner pitched the opportunity to Campins, but he had started his job as the program officer at the Research Corporation and as research faculty at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona in Tucson. However, Campins would get a final offer that would lead to him considering moving to Orlando.

鈥淚 liked my job in Tucson, and I turned them down, and then that turned into another invitation and another,鈥� Campins says. 鈥淚 had another invitation to attend a workshop on physics pedagogy. I attended a workshop that turned into a third offer that was good enough that I said, 鈥榊ou know what? I might want to take a chance.鈥欌��

Lifting Off

Campins’ first two hires brought extensive planetary science research behind them. In 2003, Dan Britt joined 麻豆原创 as a professor of astronomy and planetary sciences, having worked on the Mars Pathfinder mission and done large-scale asteroid research. In 2005, Yan Fernandez was hired as an assistant professor in physics, having studied comets and asteroids for 11 years prior.

The following year, two hires would expand the physics department and 麻豆原创鈥檚 space research goals as Joshua Colwell and Joe Harrington were hired as assistant professors. Colwell came to the university having worked on the NASA Cassini mission since some of its earliest planning stages in 1990 and was part of the design and observation planning for the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph, or UVIS, on the multi-instrument spacecraft. In 2019, Colwell and Richard Jerousek ’06 ’09MS ’18PhD, a former student of Colwell and current physics department lecturer, used UVIS data recorded by Cassini to measure and describe the structure of Saturn鈥檚 largest innermost ring, the C Ring.

Harrington led the Spitzer Exoplanet Target of Opportunity Program, which measured exoplanet eclipses and transits with the Spitzer Space Telescope. He was also part of the development of the Bayesian Atmospheric Radiative Transfer, an open-source, reproducible research code for inferring the properties of exoplanet atmospheres, for which he won the 2011 College of Sciences Excellence in Research Award.

Britt, Colwell and Harrington are now Pegasus Professors, with Colwell as physics department chair and Harrington associate vice president for research.

Raising the Profile

As with many start-ups, there were early challenges in developing the planetary sciences program. However, with help from the administration, such as Tonner, M.J. Soileau, CREOL鈥檚 founding director, and Michael Johnson, then-dean of the College of Sciences and current provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, the program was able to grow over time. The research also helped increase the university’s profile, which helped administrative support.

The 2010s saw 麻豆原创鈥檚 space research evolve through their partnerships with various institutions. In 2012, the Florida Space Institute (FSI) was re-chartered to allow for an extensive research portfolio. That same year, FSI was also relocated from near NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Center to the Central Florida Research Park in Orlando, closer to 麻豆原创 and its research efforts. FSI also managed the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, the largest fully operational radio telescope on the planet, leading to enhanced planetary research and discoveries such as a聽moon orbiting a near-Earth asteroid. Recently, Noemi Pinilla-Alonso an associate scientist at FSI, was part of a team studying the聽size and composition of Dinkinesh, an asteroid NASA鈥檚 Lucy mission visited this month. Britt is part of the science team for the mission.

A year after FSI was re-chartered, 麻豆原创鈥檚 Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS) launched via a $6 million NASA grant in 2013. CLASS facilitated one of 麻豆原创鈥檚 key space contributions: The Exolith Lab. The lab develops and produces Martian, lunar and asteroid regolith simulants and works with NASA in addition to conducting its own research, led by Britt, Zoe Landsman 鈥�11 鈥�17PhD and Anna Metke.

麻豆原创鈥檚 Martian formula is based on the chemical signature of the soils on Mars collected by the Curiosity rover, allowing researchers to have a more accurate simulant for the many research uses, such as plant growth, vehicle testing, processing and more.

鈥淚t’s really important to have a good handle of the mineralogy of the stuff you鈥檙e going to be working with because that really dictates the chemistry and the physical properties of the surface you鈥檙e going to be working on,鈥� Britt says.

Research Now and Beyond

Recent studies are pushing 麻豆原创鈥檚 understanding of space even further. In 2020, Kareem Ahmed, an assistant professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and his team developed a聽new rocket propulsion system, leading more power to be generated from the rocket, traveling further while using less fuel and burning cleaner. In 2021, aerospace engineering Associate Professor Tarek Elgohary, along with his research students, used analytical and computational methods and machine learning to ensure聽spacecraft don鈥檛 collide with each other or space junk. The research is supported by the Federal Aviation Administration and Lockheed Martin Space.

Last year, Associate Professor Ranajay Ghosh and his team discovered a way to turn聽lunar regolith into 3D-printed bricks that could be used during space colonization. Using lunar regolith from the Exolith Lab, the bricks were made by 3D printing and binder jet technology (BJT), an additive manufacturing method that forces out a liquid binding agent (in this case, saltwater) onto a bed of powder.

Future space research will see Professors Kerri Donaldson Hanna and Adrienne Dove lead a robotics mission studying the聽moon鈥檚 Gruithuisen Domes, a previously unexplored area. Launching in 2026, the researchers will examine the domes鈥� makeup and how dust interacts with the spacecraft and a rover. The $35 million mission will help inform future robotic and human exploration of the moon and may also help researchers better understand Earth鈥檚 history and other planets in the solar system.

For Donaldson Hanna, the range of planetary science research within the physics department drew her to 麻豆原创. She saw intriguing ways she could collaborate with people on various research possibilities.

鈥淛ust seeing how committed to space science and space exploration the university itself is, it’s certainly nice and fun to be in an environment where what you鈥檙e doing is celebrated and is exciting,鈥� Donaldson Hanna says.

While 麻豆原创 has worked with the space industry since its inception, the work done in the early 2000s helped take the university’s space research closer to the stars. From bringing in new faculty to help shape emerging departments to administrative decisions that would provide an immersive environment for space research, this period began a new era that saw Knight researchers Charge On to further understand our universe.

Some of 麻豆原创鈥檚 space experts will be on hand to help participants catch the best lunar views from campus. The event will be held 6-8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21, weather permitting. That is before the night sky is the darkest, but you can still see the moon, says 麻豆原创 College of Sciences Assistant Professor of Physics Adrienne 鈥淎ddie鈥� Dove.

Dove and Professor of Physics Yan Fernandez will be in attendance sharing insight on their research related to the moon, including NASA鈥檚 Lunar-VISE mission, which will be exploring a region of the moon to identify minerals and chemical resources.

麻豆原创 Libraries and a few student organizations will have booths and activities for attendees to learn more about astronomy and physics 鈥� from meteorites to water rockets and exploring moon craters. Attendees can also learn about the moon as they collect stamps for a lunar passport at each of the space stations, staffed by 麻豆原创 planetary scientists, science librarian and members of the university鈥檚 Astronomy Society.

Help 麻豆原创 continue to provide stellar experiences for students and the Central Florida community by .

Sponsored by 麻豆原创鈥檚 , Observe the Moon Knight is just one of many events hosted by Robinson Observatory and the student-run Astronomy Society.

麻豆原创 is known as SpaceU since it was founded in 1963 to develop science and talent in support of space research. The university continues its strong tradition of 鈥渞eaching for the stars鈥� 鈥� from producing its own simulated Martian soil to more than a dozen projects aimed at getting people back on the moon safely, many of which directly support NASA鈥檚 Artemis program. In fact, nearly 30% of Kennedy Space Center employes graduated from 麻豆原创. More than a dozen 麻豆原创 researchers have asteroids named after them, and 麻豆原创 has a planet named in its honor.

Honoring 麻豆原创鈥檚 long-standing history of work with space industry carries into 麻豆原创 athletic programs with themed Space Games that first launched with football in 2016. On Oct. 18, the No. 2 麻豆原创 men鈥檚 soccer plays its Space Game against Coastal Carolina. Women鈥檚 soccer and volleyball have also played Space Games this year.

On Nov. 11, 麻豆原创 football will play its seventh annual Space Game, with Oklahoma State as this year鈥檚 opponent. 麻豆原创鈥檚 50-yard line at the FBC Mortgage Stadium lines up on the exact latitude as Launch Complex 39A, NASA鈥檚 most historic launch pad, located about 35 miles east of the university.

The domes, located in the western portion of the Imbrium basin rim, remain a mystery to scientists. Flyover data from previous missions indicate that they are made of silicic minerals 鈥� rock hardened from cooled magma. On Earth, the closest comparison may be Mount St. Helens. The volcanic features appear to have large concentrations of heat producing elements, which could potentially be used for resources for long term exploration of the moon.

The robotic mission would launch in 2026 to study the domes鈥� chemical composition and how dust interacts with the spacecraft and a rover. Two projects were announced as part of NASA鈥檚 highly competitive Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) program, which is part of the federal agency鈥檚 plan to use more commercial companies to take payloads to the moon through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. A series of missions have been approved to support the Artemis program and continue lunar exploration. The 麻豆原创-led mission is called the Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer.

鈥淲e鈥檙e still in awe,鈥� says Donaldson Hanna, the principal investigator. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be using a suite of instruments on a lander and rover to study the domes鈥� makeup including the composition and properties of regolith and boulders and how lunar dust responds to the lander and rover as it explores the volcanic dome. There鈥檚 potentially a treasure trove of knowledge waiting to be discovered, which will not only help us inform future robotic and human exploration of the moon, but may also help us better understand the history of our own planet as well as other planets in the solar system.鈥�

Chemical signatures from spacecraft orbiting the moon indicate that the surface in this region of the moon is like no other before encountered.

Ball Aerospace will be building three camera systems 鈥� the Context and Descent Cameras, the VNIR Imaging Camera, and the Compact Infrared Imaging System. The VNIR Imaging Camera and Compact Infrared Imaging System will be located on the rover and will provide critical information on the composition and properties of the volcanic domes. The Context and Descent Cameras will be on the lander and will be used to observe the rover鈥檚 work throughout the mission.

Arizona State University will provide a gamma ray and neutron spectrometer for the mission, which will be located on the rover. This will be the first time this kind of instrument will make measurements from the lunar surface, Donaldson Hanna says. The instrument will be critical in identifying the elemental composition on the surface, which is important to understand how these areas formed. If there鈥檚 a high abundance of hydrogen on the surface, the spectrometer should be able to detect it, which could us better understand the origin of the moon鈥檚 water.

Donaldson Hanna and Dove are experts in their fields. Donaldson Hanna has vast knowledge about the moon. She鈥檚 a co-investigator on NASA鈥檚 Lunar Compact InfraRed Imaging System (L-CIRiS), which will be studying the south pole of the moon. She is also part of NASA鈥檚 Lunar Trailblazer mission and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Diviner Lunar Radiometer experiment.

Dove, who is the deputy principal investigator, is an expert on space dust and has conducted experiments on NASA and commercially sponsored vehicles, as well as CubeSats and the International Space Station (ISS). She is also one of the investigators another CLPS lander instrument, called Heimdall, that will be looking at dust behavior in lunar landings.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very exciting to be selected,鈥� says Dove. 鈥淚t was an ambitious proposal, but what we learn will be invaluable. As we land, we鈥檒l be able to see how dust is disturbed and then watch how the region changes over time. We鈥檒l be able to observe how the rover modifies the surface as it travels across the domes to conduct its work. Right now, we have limited direct observations and data from the Apollo missions, and a few missions from more recent Chinese landers and rovers, so this will be a significant additional contribution.鈥�

Understanding the behavior of dust will be important in planning trips to the moon and long-term mission on its surface. Not only can dust damage spacecraft and instruments, but it could pose hazards to astronauts not properly outfitted.

The science team includes lunar experts from University of California Los Angeles, University of Colorado Boulder, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Maryland, Planetary Science Institute, United States Geological Survey and the University of Oxford.

CU Boulder鈥檚 Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) will perform instrument operations and process the science data for the Ball Aerospace provided instruments.

Another component of the project is to include outreach to local high schools. So, the team will also be working with Orlando area public school teachers to make them part of the mission work at 麻豆原创 and to use those interactions to build curricula to help students in grades nine through 12 get excited about space science. Graduate students will also be involved in and crucial to the success of the project, engaging the next generation of scientists to study the moon.

Donaldson Hanna received her bachelor鈥檚 degree in space sciences from Florida Institute of Technology in 1999, her master鈥檚 degree in geological sciences from Brown University in 2010 and her doctorate in geological sciences from Brown University in 2013. Donaldson Hanna was a postdoctoral researcher within the atmospheric, oceanic and planetary physics sub-department at the University of Oxford before receiving a UK Space Agency Aurora Research fellowship to continue her research at Oxford for an additional three and a half years. While at Oxford, she held a Junior Research fellowship at Christ Church College and was awarded the early career Winton Capital Geophysics Award from the Royal Astronomical Society. She joined 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Physics in 2019.

Dove received her doctorate in astrophysical and planetary sciences from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her bachelor鈥檚 degree in physics and astronomy from the University of Missouri. She joined 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Physics, part of the聽, in 2012. In 2017聽Dove was awarded the Susan Niebur Award Early Career Award by the NASA Solar System Exploration Virtual Research Institute (SSERVI) for her contributions to the science and exploration communities

One of 麻豆原创鈥檚 research strengths is space sciences and innovation. Founded in part to support the growing space industry at Kennedy Space Center, 麻豆原创 has a long history of space research success. 麻豆原创 researchers have worked on more than 674 NASA projects worth more than $193 million. There are more than a dozen active moon related projects underway at 麻豆原创. 聽The university is home to the , and the .

Megacon is the Southeast鈥檚 largest science fiction and pop culture convention attracting up to 100,000 people to the four-day event. Visitors attend celebrity panels (including our faculty), shop for comics and collectibles, and dress up as their favorite character from Marvel, DC, Anime, and host of other fandoms.

This is the third time planetary scientist and Pegasus Professor Joshua Colwell will be participating in panels and the second time he and his colleagues will be taping the Walkabout the Galaxy Podcast, which the group started in 2014.

鈥淭his is a fun event with an enthusiastic audience,鈥� Colwell says. 鈥淭he conference is about science fiction, fantasy and comics. A lot of yesterday鈥檚 science fiction is today鈥檚 reality and it鈥檚 a great venue to share scientific discoveries which often are even more incredible than science fiction. I call Walkabout the accidentally educational podcast because we all learn something while having a fun time, and MegaCon is a perfect fit for that. It is a great opportunity to educate people and inspire future scientists and engineers at the same time.鈥�

The goal of the podcast and the reason the faculty participate in MegaCon is to help people understand space science and why it matters in an entertaining way.

In 2019, Colwell took to social media to interact with Megacon鈥檚 attendees in a fun video where he interviewed cosplay players and talked about the science behind their favorite world. In 2020, MegaCon was canceled because of the COVID pandemic, but in 2021 it came back. Colwell was joined by Associate Professor Adrienne Dove and planetary scientist Phil Metzger聽鈥�00MS鈥�05PhD, who all served on guest panels. Colwell and Dove also recorded the podcast with Brendan Byrne 鈥�13, a radio reporter for WMFE and now a 麻豆原创 communication graduate student who earned a bachelor鈥檚 in political science from the university. Byrne is the host of WMFE鈥檚 show and podcast Are We There Yet?, which focuses on human space exploration. Byrne joins the team again this year and will record an episode of his show as well.

鈥淲e love getting the chance to record the podcast in front of a live audience, to be able to do Q&A, and so we鈥檙e not the only ones laughing at our (terrible) nerdy jokes,鈥� Dove says. 鈥淢egaCon is a great and unique opportunity for that. And it鈥檚 fun for me to go not only as a panelist, but also as a guest, to check out other panels and shows and admire the impressive display of cosplay creativity.鈥�

Many of the same faculty are returning to Megacon for a repeat. Joining them this year is Hannah Sargeant a postdoctoral scholar at 麻豆原创 whose research focuses on in-situ resource utilization on the moon. Her focus is developing resources that will be needed for future space missions. She will co-host the Walkabout the Galaxy Podcast with Colwell and Dove.

鈥淭his will be my first ever convention so I鈥檓 excited just to be there,鈥� Sargeant says. 鈥淚t鈥檒l also be the first time I鈥檒l be part of a podcast recording with a live audience, so I鈥檓 hoping they will bring some extra energy to the show and that they will come away from it knowing a little bit more about the exciting things going on in our universe.

Here鈥檚 the 麻豆原创 schedule for those of you attending the conference.

Thursday

5 p.m.聽 Fascinating: The (New) Science of Star Trek – Colwell and 麻豆原创 Physics Instructor Adam LaMee

6 p.m. Touring Tatooine – Colwell

Friday

Noon聽聽 Pop Culture and STEM Education – Colwell

Saturday

11 a.m. 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Walkabout the Galaxy – The Fun Astronomy Podcast, with Colwell, Dove, Sargeant and Byrne

Sunday

11 a.m. 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Are We There Yet? Artemis and Beyond: The Return of Humans to Deep Space, with Colwell, Dove and Byrne

The most popular research stories of 2021 focused on threats to our survival and opportunities to advance our species 鈥� from the impact of sea rise to technology that promises to propel our exploration of the solar system. Stories about COVID-19 and workplace behavior also made the top 10.

麻豆原创 shares its stories to demonstrate the impact 麻豆原创 research is having on the world. The stories showcase faculty and students who are making a difference. In 2021, 麻豆原创 research stories had a combined, total potential reach of more than 8.2 billion possible views worldwide via newspapers, magazines, news websites and select television news placements. The number does not include all TV placements nor a total number for December. The number is based on the number of visitors to a media outlet from both desktop and mobile devices who could have seen the stories from that source. That鈥檚 compared to a combined, total reach of more than 7.3 billion potential views in 2020.

The top 10 list is based on the number of media placements and the reach they earned. The number of views the stories received on 麻豆原创 Today is also considered. The stories were generated from 麻豆原创鈥檚聽聽and colleges.

麻豆原创 research appeared in places such as聽the New York Times, the Smithsonian magazine, 顿颈蝉肠辞惫别谤听magazine, CBS This Morning and CNN. The Daily Mail in the UK is among a group of international publications that shared 麻豆原创 research content. All local newspapers and television stations shared at least one research story in 2021. Consistently sharing stories on certain topics also help media identify some of 麻豆原创鈥檚 faculty and students as experts, whom they call upon time after time. Some of our space experts are now featured regularly on WMFE and several television stations, and they provide commentary for almost every space launch. One of 麻豆原创鈥檚 advances in artificial intelligence was even the subject of

The top 10 research stories of 2021 are:

1. Flying at Speeds up to Mach 17 Could Become Reality with 麻豆原创鈥檚 Developing Propulsion System
2. 麻豆原创 Study Shows Masks, Ventilation Stop COVID Spread Better than Social Distancing
3. 麻豆原创 Team Develops Artificial Intelligence that can Detect Sarcasm in Social Media
4. Virgin Orbit Launches Rocket off a 747, puts 9 Satellites in Space
5. Coastal Changes Worsen Nuisance Flooding on Many U.S. Shorelines, Study Finds
6. Clues Emerge: How Harmless Bacteria Go Rogue Turning into Deadly Flesh-eating Variants
7. 麻豆原创 Scientist鈥檚 Unique Camera Will Investigate the Moon鈥檚 South Pole
8. Legendary Sargasso Sea May be 鈥楽ea Turtles鈥� Destination during Mysterious 鈥楲ost Years鈥�
9. Rude Behavior at Work Not an Epidemic 麻豆原创 Study Shows
10. New 麻豆原创 Study Examines Leeches for Role in Major Disease of Sea Turtles in Florida

Some research is so impactful that the stories keep getting attention even years later. 麻豆原创 had three stories published before 2021 that generated significant online and/or placements in media this year. They are:

ADHD Kids Can Be Still 鈥� If They鈥檙e Not Straining Their Brains (2017)

麻豆原创 Researchers Develop Groundbreaking New Rocket-Propulsion System (2020)

Study Shows Keeping Gratitude Journal Reduces Gossip, Incivility in Workplace (2020)

麻豆原创 researchers designed the Ejecta STORM instrument to scan the area around a lunar lander for moondust and other hazards based on a concept planetary scientist Phil Metzger came up with about 10 years ago. Ejecta STORM stands for the Ejecta Sheet Tracking, Opacity and Regolith Maturity. NASA funded a proposal to study this instrument about a year ago. Earlier this month, a prototype that students helped build went onto a tethered rocket system for a few test flights, courtesy of the commercial partner Masten Space Systems, a space transportation company based in California.

Understanding how dust behaves on the moon and other planetary surfaces is critical for future space exploration missions. When a spacecraft lands or takes off, the dust it kicks off could damage engines, sandblast a nearby lunar outpost, or even impact a spacecraft orbiting the moon. There is also interest in knowing how dust on the lunar surface will behave when people are walking on it or rovers are driving around, says project co-investigator Adrienne Dove, a planetary scientist and assistant professor with 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Physics. The movement will likely generate a lot of complicated electrical and dynamical interactions.

That鈥檚 why NASA funded the Ejecta STORM project, through the Flight Opportunities program which allows researchers to use suborbital flights and other flight platforms to test and refine technology that may one day be used on missions to the moon and beyond.

https://youtu.be/u0sIH4UAikM

Test Flights

In the stillness of the Mojave Desert, Metzger watched as Masten Space Systems fired up its takeoff and vertical landing rocket, which mimics a lunar landing. Aboard the vehicle, 麻豆原创鈥檚 laser sensor, which was installed into the top of the rocket along with cameras. A bed of simulated lunar soil had been prepared underneath the rocket. During the flights the cameras collected video of the rocket exhaust blowing the dust across the laser beams.

鈥淭he tests went smoothly with four successful flights,鈥� says Metzger. 鈥淲e knew the tests were successful because we collected videos where the lasers could be clearly seen in each of the different colors of light so we can use those images to measure how much dust is in the clouds at each point along the lengths of the beams. We are now doing the post-test data processing on the videos to extract information about the dust and dynamics, proving the quality of data that can be collected during a lunar landing.鈥�

Metzger, who is a researcher at 麻豆原创-based is an expert on the moon and rocket plume interactions. He has several funded projects exploring a variety of topics related to the moon, including mining water from its surface.

The 麻豆原创 team spent a year designing and building the prototype. Andrew聽O鈥橰eilly, a third-year student studying electrical engineering, designed the electrical schematics 鈥� as well as the code for systems on the module, such as the laser function and cooling system.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 amazing that I got the opportunity to work on this project and I know all the work everyone has put in will be worth it once we have a successful launch to space in the future,鈥� O鈥橰eilly says. 鈥淣ot many students get to say they worked on a NASA mission.鈥�

O鈥橰eilly found a spot on the team because of his work in Dove鈥檚 lab. She specializes in dust dynamics of planetary systems and students work on a range of projects in her lab. Jillian Gloria, who majoring in aerospace engineering, is also working on the project. She is focused on the mounting and configuration options, as well as ways to optimize the physical system design and interfaces.

鈥淲hile the effects of rocket plumes on surface regolith may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of traveling to the moon, it is one of the many that we must investigate and understand in order to successfully return for good,鈥� Gloria says. 鈥淚t has been an inspiration to work on this team, under the expert guidance and mentorship of Addie Dove and Phil Metzger, who have provided me the opportunity to develop skills and gain experience in an area for which I have a great deal of passion for. 鈥� If your passion is space, 麻豆原创 is the place to be.鈥�

Aidan St. John, who is studying mechanical engineering, designed the system that kept the video recording equipment in place for the test flight.

Mike Conroy, an instrument engineer based at the Florida Space Institute, rounds out the team. Before joining 麻豆原创, Conroy served as a NASA project manager at Kennedy Space Center. There he worked in the area of lunar and Martian exploration and simulation tools to support the new launch systems and a number of technology development efforts.

Conroy led the undergraduate students in construction of the prototype and performed pre-flight testing at 麻豆原创.

The team used simulated moon regolith (mock lunar dust) created at 麻豆原创鈥檚 Exolith laboratory in tests labs. The lab creates Mars, asteroid and Moon simulants for researchers to use in their studies.

Why Dust Matters

It may seem pretty basic, but scientists aren鈥檛 quite sure how the dust on the Moon works.

鈥淭he physics of how rocket exhaust blows lunar soil is extremely complicated and we are not yet able to write equations to predict or to simulate how much dust will be blown, how fast it will blow, and where it will go on the moon,鈥� Metzger says. 鈥淲e need to understand the physics so we can quantify the expected damage that might happen to a lunar basecamp during future lunar landings. Then, we will be able to design ways to mitigate the blowing dust to protect the outpost. But for now, we need to get high quality measurements of the physics during some actual lunar landings. Those measurements will enable us to calibrate our computer simulations to make better predictions of the physics.鈥�

The Apollo missions show that the blowing dust can be extremely damaging. During Apollo 12, astronauts landed 160 meters away from the old Surveyor 3 spacecraft. The astronauts cut pieces off Surveyor 3 and brought them back to Earth. The pieces of hardware showed the landing of the Apollo 12 lunar module caused extreme pitting, chipping and scouring on the surfaces of Surveyor 3.

After some tweaking based on the performance in tests so far, the current Ejecta STORM prototype will be used for some additional tests with the Masten system. The next step for the 麻豆原创 team is to build a higher fidelity prototype unit that has flight-like thermal controls and space-qualified electronics, Metzger says.

鈥淏uilding that next generation prototype will allow us to do higher fidelity tests to prove the instrument is ready to fly to the moon,鈥� Metzger says. 鈥淲e are currently seeking funding to do that last level of development.鈥�

Dove has a bachelor鈥檚 degree from the University of Missouri and a doctoral degree from the University of Colorado. She鈥檚 been teaching and conducting research at 麻豆原创 since 2012. She has published articles and presented at dozens of conferences around the world and is an award- winning physicist. She is often quoted in the press for her expertise and is a co-host of Walkabout the Galaxy podcast.

Before joining 麻豆原创, Metzger worked at NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Center from 1985 to 2014. He earned both his master鈥檚 (2000) and doctoral (2005) degrees in physics from 麻豆原创. He鈥檚 published dozens of papers and is regularly quoted in the press for his expertise on planetary topics.

The research project is led by Adrienne Dove, an assistant professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 , and explores regolith behavior at zero and low gravity.

Regolith is loose, unconsolidated dirt and rocks and can be found on the surface of the moon, asteroids or other objects in space.

NASA announced the funding selections this month, and Dove will receive $440,000 for the 18-month project.

鈥淭his project is focused on understanding how tools, probes and other interactions with regolith are similar and different at various gravity levels,鈥� Dove says. 鈥淲e hope this will help us improve designs for operating on the lunar surface and at least better understand how objects and the surface will behave.鈥�

The flights are planned in November 2021, and the experiment will run on four flights during the flight week.

The funding will also allow for a teacher-in-residence summer experience for some local kindergarten through 12th grade teachers who will develop curriculum for their classes.

Dove鈥檚 research is one of 31 space technologies NASA selected for Flight Opportunities funding, which supports tests aboard parabolic aircraft, high-altitude balloons and suborbital rocket-powered systems.

This is the third time Dove has received Flight Opportunities funding as a project principal investigator. She has had research fly on trips with Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and SpaceX and has an upcoming flight scheduled with Masten Space Systems. Dove鈥檚 new funding will be for trips with weightless flight company ZERO-G鈥檚 G-Force One plane.

In addition to 麻豆原创, universities selected to receive the NASA Flight Opportunities funding were 聽Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, Stanford University, Arizona State University, University of California-Davis, University of Florida, University of Louisville, West Virginia University, Montana State University, University of California-Berkeley, Carthage College, Florida Institute of Technology and the New Jersey Institute of Technology .

The technologies that were selected address NASA鈥檚 priorities of lunar exploration and the use of commercial suborbital and low-Earth orbit platforms for research, according to a NASA press release.

鈥淏y supporting suborbital flight testing, our Flight Opportunities program aims to help ensure that these innovations are well-positioned to address challenges and enable NASA to achieve its lunar ambitions, while also contributing to a growing and vibrant commercial space industry,鈥� says Jim Reuter, associate administrator of NASA鈥檚 Space Technology Mission Directorate, or STMD, in the release. The Flight Opportunities program is part of STMD.

For the experiment, Dove will test how tools and probes interact with different regolith conditions and at different gravity levels, such as Martian, lunar, asteroid and zero gravity. The flights will be parabolic, meaning a plane goes up and then down at a rate that achieves a brief period of reduced gravity. And by changing the shape of the plane鈥檚 arc, the flights allow for the testing at different gravity levels, Dove says.

鈥淲e鈥檝e flown the basic hardware a number of times, so this flight will give us a chance to test instruments that might be used on future lunar exploration missions,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e obviously focusing on lunar applications this time around because of the increased interest in lunar activities and in creative ways to test how things will behave on the lunar surface.鈥�

Dove received her doctorate in astrophysical and planetary science from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her bachelor of science in physics from the University of Missouri. She joined 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Physics, part of 麻豆原创鈥檚 , in 2012.