News
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Firefly Aerospace to Deliver UCF’s Lunar-VISE Payload to the Moon
Check out the UCF Today article on NASA’s decision to use Firefly Aerospace to deliver the Lunar-VISE mission to the Moon. There is also a NASA press release about this. This mission is run as PI by Physics Department planetary scientist Prof. Kerri Donaldson Hanna. The deputy PI is Physics Department planetary scientist Prof. Addie…
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Uncovering a Centaur’s Tracks: UCF Scientists Examine Unique Asteroid-Comet Hybrid
As a UCF Today articles describes, UCF planetary scientists Dr. Noemí Pinilla-Alonso, Dr. Charles Schambeau, Dr. Dale Cruikshank, and Dr. Carol de Souza-Feliciano (along with several colleagues) have published a paper on the enigmatic outer Solar System object (2060) Chiron using data from the James Webb Space Telescope. Read more about the study and the…
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UCF Planetary Scientists Discuss Research at AGU24
Several faculty and students in the Planetary Sciences Group presented research results at the just-concluded AGU24 meeting in Washington, DC. This is an internationally-attended, annual conference run by the American Geophysical Union. The papers that were led by those in our group were:
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UCF Planetary Scientists Study Enigmatic Distant Comet
Physics Professor Dr. Yan Fernandez and FSI Scientist Dr. Charles Schambeau are part of a team that has just published a paper in Nature Astronomy describing observations and analysis of Comet 29P, a mysterious comet orbiting in the outer Solar System beyond Jupiter. The team used the James Webb Space Telescope for the research.
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Distant Stars Spotlight Mini Moons in Saturn’s Rings
EOS magazine did a story on recent work published by UCF planetary scientist Dr. Richard Jerousek on the structure of Saturn’s rings.
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UCF’s First Mission to the Moon Passes Two Critical Milestones
The objective of the mission is to study how the Moon’s Gruithuisen Domes were formed and provide greater insight on the creation and composition on the lunar surface. The mission is led by UCF planetary scientists Prof. Kerri Donaldson Hanna (PI) and Prof. Addie Dove (Deputy PI). Read the news article here!
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UCF Scientists Study Starship Launchpad in Preparation for Future NASA Lunar Missions
FSI Planetary Scientist Phil Metzger and doctoral candidate Brandon Dotson analyzed samples and data from the first SpaceX Starship launchpad blast to determine methods of improving lunar launches. Read the news article!
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UCF Planetary Scientist’s Expertise Informs New Method for Terraforming Mars
UCF planetary scientist Ramses Ramirez and collaborators modeled the efficacy of using Martian nanoparticles to increase the planet’s surface temperature, a key component to making Mars habitable. Read the news article about it and the paper they published!
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JWST Detects Carbon Dioxide on Planet Outside Solar System
UCF Planetary Scientist Prof. Joe Harrington is part of a team of scientists who used JWST to find carbon dioxide (CO2) for the first time on a planet outside our Solar System.
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