UCF Associate Professor Dan Britt and graduate student Robert Macke are studying moon rocks to help NASA plan for the next generation of lunar probes.
UCF Associate Professor Dan Britt and graduate student Robert Macke are studying moon rocks to help NASA plan for the next generation of lunar probes.

University of Central Florida Physics Associate Professor Dan Britt got a rare opportunity to study lunar samples from the Apollo 14 and 15 missions.

NASA Johnson Space Center Lunar Repository released the moon rocks –one of the largest loans ever to a university researcher–so Britt could study their density, volume and other physical features. The three samples brought back by astronaut Alan Shepard and others weigh only 80 grams combined but are valued at more than a half a million dollars.