Dan Britt Archives | �鶹ԭ�� News

�鶹ԭ�� First-Generation Student Is Finding Her Place in Space

Juzanne Martin | Photos by Antoine Hart — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 14:14:59 +0000

Born from the challenge of the Space Race, �鶹ԭ�� was created to transform imagination into innovation and prepare people to launch humanity beyond its limits. Today, we are still are a place where our people’s curiosity drives discovery, bold questions shape the future and exploration advances life on Earth.

Founded to reach the moon, we’re already on our way to the next frontier. Built for liftoff, America’s Space University celebrates �鶹ԭ�� Space Week Nov. 3-7.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Boldly Forge the Future of Space

Kaaliyah McGaughy still remembers the excitement that filled the room as she looked in awe at historic spacecrafts adorning the ceiling of an exhibit in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Most of her fifth-grade classmates saw a cool museum. McGaughy saw her future.

Ten years, one inspiring high school physics class and countless hours spent researching the path of an aerospace engineer later, McGaughy is contributing to space exploration as a third-year physics student at America’s Space University, just 35 miles west of where her dreams first took flight.

Today, as the university celebrates �鶹ԭ�� Space Week and First-Generation Student Awareness Week, her story serves as a strong example of the determination and daring spirit of Knights to boldly forge the way forward.

Here are a few things to know about the aspiring physicist:

She Chose �鶹ԭ�� Because of Its Strength in Engineering and Technology

SpaceU’s renowned engineering programs sealed the deal for McGaughy, who set her sights on studying aerospace engineering when she came to �鶹ԭ�� in 2021. For three years, she poured herself into the major — designing, testing and tinkering her way through classes that brought her closer to the world of aerospace that first sparked her imagination as a kid.

“When I came to �鶹ԭ�� during a campus visit in high school and I saw the engineering department — all of the works and creations they had in there — that really sold me,” McGaughy says. “I thought, ‘They’re doing amazing work here. They’re doing everything to make sure that space research, or any research and engineering, is continuously being done.’ I loved that.”

Her Journey of Discovery Isn’t Limited to the Stars

“I do a lot of what I do for my family. They sacrificed a lot to get me here today, and without them, I wouldn’t be here at all.”

As a proud first-generation college student, McGaughy is breaking ground closer to home, too — carving her own path through higher education and becoming a role model for her younger sister and family.

“I want to continuously make them happy and proud of me,” says McGaughy, who has received a first-generation scholarship to support her studies.

Ask her what she defines a first-generation student as, and she doesn’t hesitate: trailblazer. And she’s in the good company of thousands of them. At �鶹ԭ��, McGaughy’s surrounded by a vibrant community of ambitious leaders, bold thinkers and brilliant pioneers at a university that dares to invent the future.

Kaaliyah McGaughy standing in front of the �鶹ԭ�� Exolith Lab’s Lunar Highland Regolith Test Bin.

She Helped Build the �鶹ԭ�� Exolith Lab’s Regolith Bin

In Summer 2022, during her sophomore year, McGaughy landed a 12-week internship at �鶹ԭ��’s Exolith Lab — a premier facility for space hardware testing with simulated moon, Martian and asteroid dirt, known as regolith, used in spaceflight research and development.

“We built a lot of things by hand. It was a very student-friendly environment, and a really good foundation for space-related studies.”

One of those hand-built projects was the world’s largest simulated lunar surface, housed within the lab’s Lunar Highland Regolith Test Bin (the regolith bin). Impressive in size — measuring 33 feet by 33 feet and filled with 240,000 pounds of simulant soil — it’s even bigger in potential, providing scientists at NASA and other space companies a realistic testbed for experiments and technologies like lunar rovers.

McGaughy’s fingerprints are literally part of the bin’s foundation. She contributed to the sketches and helped build the base by hand as one of only a handful of students involved in bringing the impressive project to life. The experience and her studies led her to a part-time senior lab engineer role, which provided her an opportunity to design and build an automated lift system for robots to enter the regolith bin for qualifying round of 2025 NASA Lunabotics Challenge.

She Recently Took a Leap and Changed Her Major to Align with Her Research Goals

As McGaughy grew as an engineering student, she found herself drawn to another path. Space wasn’t just a mystery to be admired — it was a place she wanted to understand.

“I wanted to do more of the research, learn about space and do more experimental things with that instead of more hands-on things with engineering.”

With support from faculty members like Pegasus Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences Daniel Britt, who founded the Exolith Lab, she switched her major from aerospace engineering to physics on the astronomy track.

Looking back, the future physicist knows the switch was the right call as she is now a research intern at the Exolith Lab.

“I’m glad I made the decision,” McGaughy says. “I still have engineering under my belt. I love it. I’d still do it in a heartbeat. But physics was just another avenue I wanted to explore.”

She Is Proud to Be Part of the SpaceU Community

If McGaughy’s journey shows anything, it’s that curiosity and determination can take you far — and at �鶹ԭ��, that same drive is everywhere.

�鶹ԭ�� Space Week, Nov. 3-7, puts that energy on full display, celebrating all the ways Knight Nation boldly pushes space forward — from advancing space research to supporting Florida’s expanding space economy to preparing the next generation of talent.

“To have something so significant dedicated to what you’re extremely interested in and passionate about — having that represented feels amazing,” she says. “It makes you feel connected. It makes you feel like you have a community.”

Robot Rovers on the “Moon”: Lunabotics Challenge Preps Students for Space Careers

Margot Winick — Thu, 09 May 2024 15:10:59 +0000

More than 40 college teams from across the U.S. designing and building autonomous vehicles will soon find out if they are capable of navigating and conducting missions on a simulated lunar surface resembling the moon.

The robot rovers won’t be going into space — but they will face the next best challenge: to build a berm structure which would be useful to NASA’s Artemis program for navigating during lunar landings and launches, shading cryogenic propellant tank farms, providing radiation protection around a nuclear power plant and other mission-critical uses.

NASA created the Lunabotics Challenge in support of the Artemis program. �鶹ԭ��’s Florida Space Institute and its Exolith Lab will host the first round, sponsored by Caterpillar Inc., on May 11-14. The top 10 teams will advance to the demonstrations phase of the competition at the Kennedy Space Center May 15-17.

At �鶹ԭ��, students will be testing and showcasing their rovers in the same regolith bin that NASA, the European Space Agency and many companies use to evaluate and improve new equipment and technologies before launching them into space. Leaders in key industries that are important to Florida’s and the region’s workforce will serve as judges.

“Lunabotics gives students from throughout the United States an unrivaled opportunity to apply their knowledge of robotics and space to NASA’s design and construction processes,” says Winston Schoenfeld, �鶹ԭ�� interim vice president for research. “The future of our space and many other high-tech industries depends on preparing a talented workforce that can innovate and work in highly collaborative team environments.”

Each team of college students has spent months designing and building a robot rover to NASA specifications that, during this challenge, will autonomously navigate a lunar-simulated arena and excavate regolith. They will compete two teams at a time per round, being given a set amount of time to collect regolith from the construction zone and dump it into a berm zone. Teams will be judged on a variety of factors, chiefly, the size of the berm they are able to build up in the regolith material with the rover.

The top 10 teams then travel to Kennedy Space Center for the culminating event, to demonstrate the operation of their functional tele-operated or autonomous robot to complete the lunar construction tasks. Students benefit from participating and having their work evaluated by NASA and private sector engineers, technicians and educators. NASA benefits by assessing student designs and data the same way it does for its own designs, encouraging innovation in student designs and identifying clever solutions to the many challenges inherent in future Artemis missions.

“NASA’s Artemis program is our plan to return humanity to the surface of the moon in a way that is sustainable over the long term. And the task of robotically building berm structures will be important for preparation and support of crewed lunar missions. These competing teams are not only building critical engineering skills that will assist their future careers, but they are literally helping NASA prepare for our future Artemis missions,” says NASA Software Developer & In-Situ Resource Specialization (ISRU) Researcher Kurt Leucht.

Founded to help fuel talent for the nearby space industry, �鶹ԭ�� continues to build its reputation as SpaceU. NASA, with more than 50 years of research support from �鶹ԭ��, has advanced its Artemis program with the goal of establishing a sustainable human presence on the moon and preparing for missions to Mars. Prominent �鶹ԭ�� space researchers are actively engaged in multiple collaborations with NASA — particularly within the Artemis program — and 29% of Kennedy Space Center employees are �鶹ԭ�� alums.

“Students are taking on a challenge that also faces all of our top space agencies and companies — how can we design and build an autonomous vehicle that can reliably perform tasks on the surface of the moon?” says Julie Brisset, interim director of �鶹ԭ��’s Florida Space Institute. “The hands-on experience is invaluable for students and will help set them up for success on their campuses and in their future careers.”

Soil simulants used in the Lunabotics Challenge at �鶹ԭ�� are created from crushed minerals. Once produced by �鶹ԭ��’s Exolith Lab, this regolith is now manufactured by a successful spinoff company, Space Resource Technologies. Other sponsors include Allen & Company, Lunar Outpost, Riegl USA and Venturi Astrolab.

�鶹ԭ��’s Lunabotics Challenge 2024 Team members include Cielo Torres, Zachary Weisiger, Gavin Fitzgerald, Jacob LIorca, Thomas Jaycard and Lee Marshall, who serves as captain. Not pictured: Samantha Simmons, Alfredo Nazario, Connor Smith, Caden Brock. (Photo by Antoine Hart)

As for the �鶹ԭ�� Team, comprised of nine mechanical engineering and computer science students, learning how to work together as a team was as worthwhile an output as the lunar robot itself.

“Our ‘move fast and break things’ mindset has led to lots of creativity flowing to solve problems that came up with the design,” says Lee Marshall, who serves as team lead for �鶹ԭ��.

Their biggest challenge was creating a custom mechanical solution from scratch for the controls, according to Marshall. For the robot rover, materials came from 3D printers, an Xbox Connect being used as a camera and depth sensor, and other materials found in the Robotics Club lab.

“From observing the team, you can see their dedication, innate drive and determination to make it through the qualifying event,” says Crystal Maraj, faculty advisor for the �鶹ԭ�� Robotics Club and an assistant professor with the Institute for Simulation and Training. “It takes a lot of time and effort, and I applaud these students for their success to iterate the design and utility of the robot for competition.”

Members of the public will be able to watch the competition rounds of the Lunabotics Challenge on the Florida Space Institute’s YouTube Channel. The Lunabotics .

National Engineering Association Honors �鶹ԭ��’s Space Dirt Expert

Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala — Fri, 06 May 2022 12:00:53 +0000

�鶹ԭ�� Pegasus Professor of Physics Dan Britt became the second �鶹ԭ�� space researcher in university history to earn one of the American Society of Civil Engineers most prestigious awards for work that makes a difference in space exploration. Florida Space Institute planetary scientists Phil Metzger ’00MS ’05PhD earned the recognition in 2018.

Britt accepted the honor during the held in Denver late last month. The professor says the award reflected the work of all the people who are part of �鶹ԭ��’s Exolith Lab. The lab produces extraterrestrial regolith that mimics the dirt found on Mars, the moon and asteroids. Last year the lab produced and shipped about 38 tons of regolith to researchers around the world working on equipment and projects to establish a sustainable presence beyond Earth. NASA, private commercial space companies, universities and even K-12 schools use the material for research.

“The award is really for all the hard and smart work by the �鶹ԭ�� students that actually run the Exolith Lab and have made it the best in the world,” Britt says.

The Aerospace Division’s Outstanding Technical Contribution Award is presented in recognition of distinguished achievements in aerospace engineering that are applicable to any branch of civil engineering.

“Recipients are those who have contributed substantially to advancing the state of the art in aerospace engineering, sciences and technology, and space exploration and construction by either a single outstanding publication, invention or discovery, or have a record of sustained excellence in technical contributions,” says Lindsay O’Leary ’06, the director of Technical Advancement American Society of Civil Engineers who studied civil engineering at �鶹ԭ��.

Britt was selected in 2020, but because of the pandemic, the conference was held virtually that year. The conference is held biannually and is part of the International Conference on Engineering, Science, Construction, and Operations in Challenging Environments. So, Britt was able to collect the award this year.

“The contributions of these outstanding individuals bring us one step closer to lunar and Martian habitation, as we develop engineering structures for aerospace environments and terrestrial applications subject to extreme environmental conditions,” O’Leary said in an email.

Britt has a long history of excellence. He’s been part of four NASA missions — Mars Pathfinder and Deep Space 1, the New Horizons Mission Science Team for the flyby of the Kuiper Belt asteroid 2014 MU69, the Lucy Mission Science Team for a series of flybys of asteroids near Jupiter. He was the project manager for the camera on Mars Pathfinder and has built hardware for all the NASA Mars landers.

His work is funded by NASA and includes studying the physical properties and mineralogy of asteroids, comets, the moon, and Mars to help keep astronauts safe and their vehicles functioning when traveling to other planets.

He is director of the Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS), a node of NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI). He has served as the chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society and the Planetary Geology Division of the Geological Society of America. He holds multiple degrees including economics and a Ph.D. in geology from Brown University.

�鶹ԭ�� Experimental Space Dirt Used by NASA, Private Companies to Advance Space Exploration

Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 13:00:24 +0000

An ingenious idea born out of a research lab at the �鶹ԭ�� has led to a growing operation that is having a direct impact on space exploration.

Chances are that some of the equipment landing on the moon and the methods that will be used to grow food or build shelter, will have been tested first on experimental soil developed right at �鶹ԭ��.

�鶹ԭ��’s Exolith Lab has produced and shipped 25 tons of simulated extraterrestrial soil so far this year. Customers include NASA and commercial companies domestically and around the globe, who are using the dirt to test equipment being developed for Moon, Mars, and asteroid missions. University researchers also are using the material to test strategies they are developing to address a variety of problems facing astronauts such as finding sustainable ways to grow food on other planets. Even K-12 schools are among the clients because they are using the material to provide students hands-on science experiences to increase interest in STEM.

“It certainly has grown since we started,” says Zoe Landsman ’11 ’17PhD, the chief scientist for the Lab who earned degrees at �鶹ԭ�� in physics. “We aren’t the only ones doing this, but we are certainly the only university doing this at this scale.”

The first year the lab operated in 2018, less than half of ton of the experimental dirt was produced and shipped. In 2020, the lab produced 5 tons and halfway through 2021, the lab is almost at 25 tons, said director of operations, Anna Metke ’19.

The lab is completely self-sufficient thanks to the increase in demand. The lab charges from $35 to $55 a kilogram with some specialty variations costing $5 per ounce. Money is reinvested into the lab.

Like Earth — which has sandy, rocky and clay regions — the moon, Mars and asteroids have various kinds of dirt. If an engineering team wants to test the tire design of a rover headed for moon’s south pole, it would need “softer” mock moon dirt based on the data available about the Moon, Landsman says. If they were targeting a different part of the moon, the soil would be different.

The lab produces several kinds of simulant depending on the client’s needs. There are more than 10 options available, and Landsman works with clients who need custom orders.

Humble Beginnings

Exolith began in Physics Professor Dan Britt’s lab under a NASA small business grant in partnership with the commercial startup Deep Space Industries. Britt and his postdoctoral scholar, Kevin Cannon, developed a scientifically based, standardized method for creating simulated Martian and asteroid regolith (commonly called soil).

The team published its results in academic journals providing scientists around the world a high-fidelity standard. Deep Space Industries left the simulant business and �鶹ԭ�� picked up the slack as a non-profit service to the space exploration community. Orders and production have been growing steadily since then.

“It was a way to give scientists a way to test their ideas on something similar to what they would encounter in space,” Britt says. “You wouldn’t want to discover that your method didn’t work when you are actually there. It takes a lot of money, effort, and time to get there, so you want your shot to be the best one possible. Our simulant helps improve the odds.”

The demand grew quickly and in 2019 the operation moved to a 1,100-square foot warehouse in Winter Park. This month the group is preparing to move to an even bigger warehouse (about 5,500 square feet) closer to campus. As part of that move, the team expects to set up a “sandbox” like the one found at NASA’s Swamp Works, Landsman says.

“This will give some of our researchers the ability to work with the simulant in a larger environment,” she says. “We’re all looking forward to that, when we fully build out.”

From NASA to Social Media Influencers

With NASA’s Artemis mission right around the corner, the Moon simulant has been a hot item at Exolith. While the client list is private, there are several companies and agencies that are public about their supplier.

Anna Metke

NASA, the European Space Agency, the Japanese Space Agency, and German Space Agency (DLR) have placed orders; so has Honeybee Robotics, Made in Space and Maana Electric, a company based in Luxembourg. Schools are also placing orders from St. James Day School in Texas to the Mendon-Upton Regional School District in Massachusetts. Even social media influencers are customers such as Emma Carr — better known as @astrosurferninja on Instagram — an exceptional tween who is chronicling her journey to becoming an astronaut via social media.

“She has done some of the most impressive plant growth experiments with our simulants,” Metke says.

NASA even used the regolith this past summer as part of its Plant the Moon and Plant Mars summer challenge. It was a national competition aimed at getting regular citizens to work on experiments for growing food on the Moon or Mars. Those who paid to participate got a starter box with 2-6 kilograms of simulant depending on the size of the team.

The Process

When it comes to creating the simulant, it is a lot like making a cake. The team keeps a pantry stocked with raw materials including basalt (lava rocks), anorthosite, serpentine, olivine, and many other minerals important in extraterrestrial regoliths. Depending on what ingredient is needed the team can take large rocks and grind or smash them in a variety of equipment to turn them into different grades of powder.

Samples of Moon and Mars regolith.

Then they are mixed based on the formulas. The quantity of each ingredient is carefully measured to create the exact blend needed.

Then the order is packed in small or large bags, placed in cardboard boxes and ready for the U.S. Postal service. If the orders are bigger, they are shipped with the appropriate carrier.

Some boxes travel as far as Australia or Germany, while others are delivered to the labs of �鶹ԭ�� Assistant Physics Professor Adrienne Dove, Professor Joshua Colwell, and Associate Researcher Julie Brisset. They are all using simulant for a variety of research including how dusts reacts in space

For example, Dove is looking at how planetary surfaces of the Moon, asteroids and other small objects in space behave and interact with the surrounding electric fields and charged particles from the sun. This research is important because it not only informs the understanding of how Earth formed and evolved but it also makes space exploration safer, as scientists can use the research results to predict how spacecraft and humans will interact with planetary surfaces.

Exolith Benefits �鶹ԭ�� Students

Many of the lab employees are �鶹ԭ�� students or recent graduates. And while crushing rocks and following recipe ingredients isn’t glamorous, those working in the warehouse love every minute of it because its “real.”

For Christian Sipe, an aerospace engineering student, working in the lab is directly helping him prepare for his future job. He serves as the lab’s chief In-Situ Resource Utilization engineer.

He’s already created equipment to solve problems in the lab. For example, he designed and manufactured a uniquely shaped connector which slip onto tubing so rocks being crushed in one machine can slip into the next container in the production, while reducing the dust created and expelled in the process.

“I hope to lead teams that use ISRU to build infrastructure on the Lunar surface, such as a Lunar outpost and many other key structures that will help humanity become a multi-planetary species,” Sipe says. “This is great experience, because I’m working with very similar material right here. It’s not a dream. It’s real, now.”

Lab manager Parks Easter, a Burnett Honors Scholar studying civil engineering, says the opportunity at Exolith has set him up for success. His career goal is simple: help with the construction of a Lunar base through his geotechnical research on the regolith he’s been working with at �鶹ԭ��.

“I have learned so much from my experience at Exolith that I never would’ve learned within my major alone,” Easter says. “I have been given the opportunity to talk at multiple NASA conferences as well as publish abstracts about the development of our simulant. I have also gotten the chance to develop new regolith simulants and work on research projects as an undergraduate that I wouldn’t be able to do anywhere else. I have always loved space and thought that this would be the perfect application of my skills within the industry.”

�鶹ԭ�� Professor Part of Team Awarded the Sir Arthur Clarke Award

Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 11:25:46 +0000

NASA’s New Horizons Mission Team, which includes �鶹ԭ�� physics Professor Dan Britt, Thursday was awarded the 2019 Sir Arthur Clarke Award, one of the most prestigious space-exploration awards in the world. The award recognizes teams and individuals that have made notable or outstanding achievements in space activities in the past year.

New Horizons was selected for producing never-before-seen images of some of the most distant solar system objects including the spectacular images from the flyby of the Kuiper Belt asteroid 486958 Arrokoth (2014 MU69) that occurred in January. The 20-year-old mission also provided the first stunning images of Pluto and now the mission continues exploring the Kuiper Belt.

“It is quite an honor to be part of the New Horizons team,” says Britt, who joined the team in 2018. “These are some of the best people in planetary science, a combination of legendary veterans and rising stars, so I feel honored to be counted among them.”

New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern — a former director of �鶹ԭ��’s Florida Space Institute and former associate administrator of ‘s – accepted the award via satellite on behalf of the team Thursday night during the award ceremony at the British Interplanetary Society’s Reinventing Space Conference gala dinner in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

During his remarks, he shared how much Clarke’s work and writing deeply affected and motivated him as a child. The award was named after the British science fiction writer and futurist.

Britt said the team’s most important work is the reconnaissance of the outer reaches of the solar system. Images of Kuiper object 486958 Arrokoth for example, made the cover of the journal Science .

“We are creating a legacy of data and insights that will provide guideposts for future generations of explorers,” Britt says.

Britt has a long history of success driven by his desire to uncover the unknown. He has served on the science teams of four NASA missions – the Mars Pathfinder, Deep Space 1, New Horizons and the Lucy Mission. He was the project manager for the camera on the Mars Pathfinder and has built hardware for all the NASA Mars landers. His research focus area includes physical properties and mineralogy of asteroids, comets, the moon and Mars.

He is also director of the �鶹ԭ��-based Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science, a node of NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute. He has served as the chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society and the Planetary Geology Division of the Geological Society of America. Honors include six NASA Achievement Awards, election as a fellow of the Meteoritical Society, and an asteroid named after him, 4395 DanBritt.

�鶹ԭ�� Researchers Prospecting for Mining-Outpost Site on Moon

Robert Wells — Wed, 08 May 2019 14:34:45 +0000

With space set to be the site of the next “gold rush,” �鶹ԭ�� researchers are helping prospect a spot for a major first step in the upcoming scramble – creating a lunar mining outpost.

The work will be funded through a recently announced grant from NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program.

The project entails �鶹ԭ�� researchers working with TransAstra Corp. to study an economical way to mine ice on the moon.

The project entails �鶹ԭ�� researchers working with California aerospace company TransAstra Corp. to study an economical way to mine the plentiful supply of ice known to exist in the polar regions of the moon. The principal investigator of the project is Joel Sercel, president of TransAstra. Sercel holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from The California Institute of Technology.

TransAstra is developing the technology to mine the ice. The �鶹ԭ�� team, comprised of Kevin Cannon, a postdoctoral scholar in �鶹ԭ��’s and Dan Britt, a �鶹ԭ�� physics professor, will provide expertise on site selection, lunar-terrain characteristics, and properties of lunar ice deposits.

While ice may be taken for granted on Earth, in space it serves as a valuable resource when turned to water and split into hydrogen and oxygen to become rocket fuel propellant that can be stored in depots on the lunar surface.

“These depots are the gas stations that allow you to have infrastructure and economy in space,” Cannon says. “Getting that water out of the ground is a first step because it’s just so expensive to launch it from Earth. So, you really cut down on the cost of space development by mining it on the moon.”

The researchers expect the United States to be back on the moon within five years – with at least robots beginning the mining operations – and then actual outposts to be created within 10 years. Renewed interest in the moon has included recent efforts by China and Israel to land there, as well as from many commercial companies working on plans to mine and develop the moon.

In space ice is a valuable resource because it can become rocket fuel propellant that can be stored in depots on the lunar surface.

A mining post would have to balance a need to be close to a region cold enough to harbor frozen volatiles such as water but also near sunlight, a vital source of energy for solar-powered equipment doing work in space.

Such an outpost could have multiple components with a power source located on a sunlit peak, mining operations in topographic lows, and storage facilities for mining vehicles and propellant, the researchers say.

One of the challenges will also be building on lunar permafrost, which is solid until it’s hot, and then it begins to melt.

Britt says overcoming this challenge could involve using similar building strategies to those used in polar regions on Earth, such as in Alaska, that involve using insulation or building below the permafrost.

Establishing an outpost on the moon ensures humans’ continued journey to expand beyond the farthest known limits, Cannon says.

“There’s been this kind of stasis in terms of getting humans out of low Earth orbit and actually starting to develop space,” Cannon says. “I think this is a small first step, but it’s important to establish something like an outpost that is semi-permanent. I think that goes a long way to getting people into space to stay sustainably.”

“If you want to change the parameters of how human civilization lives, you have to explore.” – Kevin Cannon, �鶹ԭ�� postdoctoral physics scholar

Britt likened the renewed push for space development to the Age of Discovery that took place from the 1400s to the 1700s.

“If you want to change the parameters of how human civilization lives, you have to explore,” he says.

�鶹ԭ�� is a leader in planetary science and off-world geology. Britt is director of the , a part of NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute housed at �鶹ԭ��. His work has been incorporated in multiple Mars landers, and he is co-investigator on NASA’s Lucy, New Horizons, Mars Pathfinder and Deep Space 1 missions. Asteroid 4395 is named DanBritt after him in recognition of his contributions to asteroid research. He is a �鶹ԭ�� Pegasus Professor and earned his doctorate in geological sciences from Brown University. He joined �鶹ԭ�� in 2003.

Britt helps oversee �鶹ԭ��’s with its founder Cannon. The lab is a nonprofit extension of the Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science that produces simulated lunar, planetary and asteroid surface material for use in scientific research.

Cannon received his doctorate in Earth, environmental and planetary sciences from Brown University. He joined �鶹ԭ�� in 2017 and studies the composition of small planetary bodies and Mars with an interest in accessing the resources they may provide. In addition to running the Exolith Lab, Cannon supervises a number of �鶹ԭ�� undergraduates in applied research projects, including planetary-resource extraction and plant growth in simulated regolith. His work has been published in numerous journals, and he can be found on Twitter at @kmcannon.

�鶹ԭ�� Making a Name for Itself in the World of Planetary Science

Tue, 22 Aug 2017 16:00:15 +0000

�鶹ԭ�� has diligently and methodically been making a name for itself in the world of planetary exploration, and it’s beginning to pay off in big ways.

Not only are two �鶹ԭ�� professors part of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to collect asteroid samples – a first for the United States, but scientists are playing critical roles as NASA and private space companies race to get people back into space.

NASA recognized �鶹ԭ��’s expertise in 2013 when it made the university the base for the (CLASS), one of nine virtual institutes NASA funds to focus on questions concerning space science and human space exploration. CLASS finds itself in a unique position because its experts happen to be in hot demand as NASA and private space companies prepare to send people to other planets.

“NASA is starting to get serious about Mars, so they are looking to do more research in the area of airless bodies [asteroids and planets with barren surfaces] as part of the highway to Mars, and that’s where we come in,” said Dan Britt, the �鶹ԭ�� geophysicist who leads CLASS. “We are a virtual institute that is a compilation of skills that look at surfaces of airless bodies like asteroids and the moons of Mars. We look at everything from dust to microgravity. We offer the best scientific advice so the engineers at NASA can design the hardware needed to keep people alive in these alien environments.”

Members of CLASS at �鶹ԭ�� are creating asteroid simulant (asteroid fake dirt) to help private companies and NASA develop the machinery and protocols to mine minerals and other resources from asteroids. Some of the team members are studying how dirt interacts with microgravity in anticipation of spacecraft approaching and landing on other planets.

“Space exploration isn’t cheap,” Britt said. “There are some real challenges and that takes money. Since putting a man on the moon, NASA has been underfunded. It’s no surprise we haven’t done more that’s exciting for the American public since then.”

Britt sees private companies entering the field of space exploration as a great catalyst.

“I think it’s a good thing to have competition of new ideas,” he said. “With big innovators who are willing to spend money and aren’t so worried about public perception of setbacks, it’s really jump-started this again.”

Commercial space entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk of SpaceX and Jeff Bezos of Blue Origin have poured millions of dollars into their programs to develop vehicles that can get people back into space since the shuttle program retired in 2011. They’ve had some public mishaps, but they’ve also created two vehicles that in just a few years are on the cusp of meeting their objectives.

Professor Josh Colwell, who is also a CLASS member, is taking advantage of the opportunities provided by these private companies, too. Colwell has had two experiments fly aboard the new spacecrafts developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.

“It’s a great way to get experiments completed quickly,” Colwell said. “And what we’re learning can really help us answer how our planets were formed. That will help us understand what we encounter as we begin to explore other planets.”

According to NASA, a human mission to and from the Mars system could last two years, or longer, including six to nine months of transit each way. Unlike trips to the International Space Station, there is no quick way home. Those missions will have to be independent of Earth and its resources.

�鶹ԭ�� in CLASS of Its Own Studying Space

Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 16:08:05 +0000

�鶹ԭ�� has diligently and methodically been making a name for itself in the world of planetary exploration, and it’s beginning to pay off in big ways.

Not only are two �鶹ԭ�� professors part of the upcoming NASA OSIRIS-REx mission to collect asteroid samples – a first for the United States scheduled for launch Sept. 8 – but scientists are playing critical roles as NASA and private space companies race to get people back into space.

Recently �鶹ԭ�� physics professors Dan Britt and Humberto Campins were named to a team of NASA experts who analyzed an idea for the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) before NASA puts it out for bid. It’s a very select process to be named to one of these think-tank-type teams and practically unheard of to have two individuals from the same university named to the same team. Only Arizona State University – considered by some as the university leader for planetary science in the nation – has achieved this feat, until now.

“Other than Arizona, I can’t think of anywhere else that has this level of expertise,” said Phil Metzger, a scientist at the Florida Space Institute, which is based at �鶹ԭ��. He worked on several NASA missions until 2014, when he moved to FSI where he works with many of �鶹ԭ��’s space scientists.

NASA recognized �鶹ԭ��’s expertise in 2013 when it made the university the base for the Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS), one of nine virtual institutes NASA funds to focus on questions concerning space science and human space exploration. CLASS finds itself in a unique position because its experts happen to be in hot demand as NASA and private space companies prepare to send people to other planets.

Britt sees private companies entering the field of space exploration as a great catalyst.

Britt and �鶹ԭ�� professor Humberto Campins, who is prepping for the unmanned OSIRIS-REx mission launch in September, are eager to see the NASA’s request for proposal for the ARM, which they evaluated for NASA.

ARM aims to send a spacecraft to a nearby asteroid, pluck a 10-ton boulder from it, and then take it to the moon’s orbit. According to NASA, ARM will help develop a number of new technologies and capabilities that will directly enable future missions to Mars.

“I think CLASS is in a perfect position to help us get there,” Britt said. “That’s what keeps us excited to be in this. It really is quite the adventure.”

�鶹ԭ�� Physics Professor Named to NASA Mission, Lands Grant for Space Mining

Thu, 14 Apr 2016 11:55:35 +0000

�鶹ԭ�� physics professor Dan Britt has been named to the New Horizons mission team as the spacecraft heads to the Kuiper Belt. He’s also just landed a grant to help create fake asteroid material, which will help NASA and private companies prepare the technology needed to mine asteroids and eventually other planets.

“It’s been a pretty good month,” Britt said from Boulder, Colo., where he’s working on another proposal for NASA. “This is a great time to be in this field.”

Britt joins the team responsible for sending New Horizons to Pluto and which made headlines last year when it unveiled the first pictures of Pluto’s surface. Mountain ranges and perhaps even oceans under its frozen surface have been recorded by the spacecraft.

The non-manned spacecraft, which launched in 2006 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, reached Pluto in July. The spacecraft exceeded expectations and now NASA is looking to extend the mission, sending the probe to the Kuiper Belt – the first such opportunity to get a close look at this region of space.

The Kuiper Belt is a disk shaped region of the solar system past Neptune’s orbit, which is home to comets, asteroids and other objects largely made of ice.

Britt will work with lead scientist Alan Stern on the geology of the Kuiper Belt objects New Horizons encounters. Stern is based at the Southwest Research Institute and has served as a consultant on several projects with �鶹ԭ��. He also served as interim director of the Florida Space Institute, which is based at �鶹ԭ��.

“This is a great opportunity,” Britt said. “It demonstrates that �鶹ԭ�� is the place to go for expertise in asteroid and comet geology.”

It’s that expertise that also landed Britt a grant to work with Deep Space Industries, an asteroid-mining company that is working to develop technical resources, capabilities and the “integration required to prospect for, harvest, process, manufacture and market in-space resources,” according to its website.

Britt will lead the development of different kinds of asteroid simulants. Think of the difference between real snow and manufactured snow. Britt will create the manufactured asteroid material that NASA and private companies will use as they develop mining technology. Asteroids are seen as a key resource to traveling beyond the moon because with the proper development, they could provide fueling stations for long voyages.

“This gives NASA engineers something that is close to asteroidal mineralogy to work on. People who develop asteroid mining will be testing their hardware on �鶹ԭ�� simulant, and that’s pretty awesome.”

�鶹ԭ�� Grad Student Picked to Study at Vatican Observatory

Wed, 23 Dec 2015 15:07:16 +0000

A �鶹ԭ�� graduate student is one of only 25 people worldwide selected to attend a prestigious summer school in astrophysics at the Vatican Observatory.

Leos Pohl, a second-year doctoral student in �鶹ԭ��’s Planetary Sciences Group, will join two dozen other students at the observatory’s headquarters in Castel Gandolfo, a resort community just southeast of Rome.

“It’s one of the best opportunities in the world to get an introduction to planetary science,” said �鶹ԭ�� physics professor Dan Britt, Pohl’s graduate advisor. “They get the very best experts in the world to teach it, and they select no more than two people from any one country. Just getting selected is quite an honor because it is hugely selective.”

During the month-long summer school that starts in late May, students from more than 20 nations will focus on the role of water in our solar system and cosmochemistry. Leading experts in astrophysics will direct lectures, presentations and hands-on projects, and students will present their own research.

It meshes well with Pohl’s research focus: asteroids, which experts theorize carried water to Earth. Even so, Pohl wasn’t sure he would be picked for the selective summer camp.

“I had no idea,” Pohl said. “With the specialization of water, I thought there might be many more students who were better-suited. It’s like fishing. You throw your bait in the water and you wait, and you don’t know if you’ll catch a fish.”

Leos Pohl in front of �鶹ԭ��’s Robinson Observatory.

Pohl, who grew up in the village of Krinice in Czech Republic, earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in theoretical physics from Charles University in Prague. He came to �鶹ԭ�� last year, the culmination of a search for universities in the United States that have quality planetary science programs.

The Vatican Observatory is headquartered at the papal villa, within the papal gardens in Castel Gandolfo. It traces its origins to an observational tower erected inside the Vatican by Pope Gregory XIII in 1578. It was formally established inside the walls of Vatican City by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, but moved to Castel Gandolfo in 1935 to escape Rome’s nighttime light pollution.

Robert Macke, a Jesuit brother who earned his doctorate in physics from �鶹ԭ�� in 2010, is curator of meteorites at the Vatican Observatory and dean of the summer school.