{"id":8632,"date":"2013-11-06T12:56:32","date_gmt":"2013-11-06T17:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu\/?p=8632"},"modified":"2013-11-06T12:56:32","modified_gmt":"2013-11-06T17:56:32","slug":"ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Lands NASA-Funded Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

Years from now, if astronauts explore the surface of an asteroid or even the moons of Mars, they may have to give a shout-out to UCF scientists for helping them handle cosmic hazards such as clouds of potentially blinding space dust.<\/p>\n

The first step in that possible future came Tuesday with NASA\u2019s announcement that a University of Central Florida team had won a $6 million grant to study what astronauts might encounter during a mission to a nearby neighbor \u2014 such as a small asteroid or Phobos and Deimos, Mars\u2019 rocky moons.<\/p>\n

The team, led by physics professor Dan Britt, will try to predict what U.S. astronauts might face during a landing\u2014think space dust, not aliens. It also will play a role in helping NASA decide which nearby asteroid the space agency should target for exploration.<\/p>\n

Though the five-year grant is tiny compared with NASA\u2019s budget of about $17 billion, the research it funds could prove critical to NASA\u2019s long-range plans of sending U.S. astronauts to an asteroid \u2014 a space rock smaller than a planet \u2014 by 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have never actually sent humans to small bodies [like asteroids], so there\u2019s a range of things we don\u2019t know about,\u201d Britt said. A prime focus will be studying the surfaces of asteroids, including how they\u2019ve evolved and whether they hold water, so that astronauts will know to expect.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Britt said, he expects the grant will boost space research in Metro Orlando, which for decades has lived in the shadow of launch operations at Kennedy Space Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a big win for Orlando because it brings knowledge-based and science-led jobs,\u201d Britt said, starting with the hiring of three faculty members and up to 10 researchers. He hopes this nucleus will expand to include more jobs and research.<\/p>\n

With the grant, Britt plans to jump-start a research initiative dubbed CLASS, for the Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science, that will assemble space experts from various backgrounds and countries to better understand \u201crocky airless bodies,\u201d such as nearby asteroids.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is that NASA wants to have the scientific support for their human-exploration goals directly at hand,\u201d Britt said.<\/p>\n

Astronomers, geologists, physicists and chemists will work together to answer a long list of questions, such as: How does space dust affect explorers and landing craft? How have microgravity and the chill of space shaped asteroids \u2014 and could that affect NASA operations?<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s analysis of the Apollo landings helps show the importance of understanding the mission environment.<\/p>\n

One 2005 study done by NASA highlighted the range of potential problems caused by lunar dust alone, from \u201cfalse instrument readings\u201d to \u201cinhalation and irritation.\u201d<\/p>\n

These issues were compounded by the fact that \u201cdust problems were consistently underestimated by ground tests,\u201d according to the study, which was done in anticipation of NASA returning astronauts to the moon \u2014 a program later shelved.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s latest ambition of reaching an asteroid \u2014 let alone Mars\u2019 moons \u2014 also faces the risk of delay or even cancellation.<\/p>\n

Under current NASA plans, the agency aims to send an unmanned probe later this decade to capture a small asteroid \u2014 which one is still undecided \u2014 and tug it near the moon so astronauts riding NASA\u2019s new rocket and space capsule could visit it, possibly as soon as 2021.<\/p>\n

The idea, however, has faced significant opposition in Congress. And belt-tightening throughout the federal government is expected to pinch NASA\u2019s budget, or worse, during the next several years.<\/p>\n

Lori Garver, former deputy administrator for NASA, said in September that the first launch of the agency\u2019s big new rocket, known as the Space Launch System, is likely to miss its first deadline of 2017 by a year or two because of budget problems.<\/p>\n

Still, even if NASA\u2019s human-exploration program hits a snag, the data generated by the UCF group could be useful for other missions, including robotic exploration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole idea is to make future exploration safer and cheaper because we are exploring smartly, rather than zipping out to see what we find,\u201d Britt said.<\/p>\n

To read the original article, click <\/em>here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For additional coverage from News13, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Years from now, if astronauts explore the surface of an asteroid or even the moons of Mars, they may have to give a shout-out to UCF scientists for helping them handle cosmic hazards such as clouds of potentially blinding space dust. The first step in that possible future came Tuesday with NASA\u2019s announcement that a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":8641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,38,13,14,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awards","category-breaking-news","category-news","category-physics-departments","category-planetary-sciences"],"yoast_head":"\nUCF Lands NASA-Funded Center - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UCF Lands NASA-Funded Center - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Years from now, if astronauts explore the surface of an asteroid or even the moons of Mars, they may have to give a shout-out to UCF scientists for helping them handle cosmic hazards such as clouds of potentially blinding space dust. The first step in that possible future came Tuesday with NASA\u2019s announcement that a […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-06T17:56:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2013\/11\/NASA_-_The_Andromeda_Galaxy_M31_Spyral_Galaxy-e1383760130492.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cosmarketing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cosmarketing\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cosmarketing\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d\"},\"headline\":\"UCF Lands NASA-Funded Center\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-06T17:56:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":695,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2013\\\/11\\\/NASA_-_The_Andromeda_Galaxy_M31_Spyral_Galaxy-e1383760130492.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Awards\",\"COS News\",\"News\",\"Physics\",\"Planetary Sciences\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\\\/\",\"name\":\"UCF Lands NASA-Funded Center - College of Sciences News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2013\\\/11\\\/NASA_-_The_Andromeda_Galaxy_M31_Spyral_Galaxy-e1383760130492.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-06T17:56:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2013\\\/11\\\/NASA_-_The_Andromeda_Galaxy_M31_Spyral_Galaxy-e1383760130492.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2013\\\/11\\\/NASA_-_The_Andromeda_Galaxy_M31_Spyral_Galaxy-e1383760130492.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"The Andromeda Galaxy\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"College of Sciences News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d\",\"name\":\"cosmarketing\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cosmarketing\"},\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UCF Lands NASA-Funded Center - College of Sciences News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UCF Lands NASA-Funded Center - College of Sciences News","og_description":"Years from now, if astronauts explore the surface of an asteroid or even the moons of Mars, they may have to give a shout-out to UCF scientists for helping them handle cosmic hazards such as clouds of potentially blinding space dust. The first step in that possible future came Tuesday with NASA\u2019s announcement that a […]","og_url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/","og_site_name":"College of Sciences News","article_published_time":"2013-11-06T17:56:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":200,"height":150,"url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2013\/11\/NASA_-_The_Andromeda_Galaxy_M31_Spyral_Galaxy-e1383760130492.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cosmarketing","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cosmarketing","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/"},"author":{"name":"cosmarketing","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d"},"headline":"UCF Lands NASA-Funded Center","datePublished":"2013-11-06T17:56:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/"},"wordCount":695,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2013\/11\/NASA_-_The_Andromeda_Galaxy_M31_Spyral_Galaxy-e1383760130492.jpg","articleSection":["Awards","COS News","News","Physics","Planetary Sciences"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/","name":"UCF Lands NASA-Funded Center - College of Sciences News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2013\/11\/NASA_-_The_Andromeda_Galaxy_M31_Spyral_Galaxy-e1383760130492.jpg","datePublished":"2013-11-06T17:56:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-lands-nasa-funded-center\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2013\/11\/NASA_-_The_Andromeda_Galaxy_M31_Spyral_Galaxy-e1383760130492.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2013\/11\/NASA_-_The_Andromeda_Galaxy_M31_Spyral_Galaxy-e1383760130492.jpg","width":200,"height":150,"caption":"The Andromeda Galaxy"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"College of Sciences News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d","name":"cosmarketing","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cosmarketing"},"url":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}