When the SpaceX-4 rocket blasts off from Cape Kennedy on Saturday, it will have an important link to Central Florida: Two payloads with University of Central Florida ties.
Included on the flight:
- UCF physics professor Joshua Colwell's research to explore low-energy collisions of dust particles to better understand the conditions that lead to the formation of the building blocks of planets.
- Engineering alumnus Jason Dunn’s 3-D printer that was developed for space.
According to a release from UCF, Colwell’s experiment in a 6-inch-square box will look at slow-speed collisions of dust, which aren’t possible to create in Earth’s gravity. The results will be used to help understand the processes in action in the protoplanetary disk — the disk of dust and gas that surrounds the center of our solar system. The test will lay the groundwork for experimenting with larger particles.
Colwell's experiment was chosen two year ago. The project is sponsored by Space Florida and NanoRacks, a private company that operates the first commercial laboratory in low-earth orbit.
Meanwhile, Dunn’s experimental 3-D printer in space would cut down on resupply missions and would be the first time something is manufactured off the planet, which is a necessary step toward multiplanetary colonization.
The aerospace engineer interned at Kennedy Space Center and co-founded the company Made in Space, which is now based in NASA Ames Research Park at Moffett Field, Calif.
Both experiments were selected as part of NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program.