{"id":89965,"date":"2018-08-24T16:31:37","date_gmt":"2018-08-24T20:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=89965"},"modified":"2018-08-27T13:38:59","modified_gmt":"2018-08-27T17:38:59","slug":"nasa-space-mission-gives-ucf-students-opportunity-see-research-pays-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/nasa-space-mission-gives-ucf-students-opportunity-see-research-pays-off\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Space Mission Gives UCF Students Opportunity to See How Research Pays Off"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no better tool to teach students about physics than to see it at work in the real world. That\u2019s why UCF Pegasus Professor of physics<\/a> Humberto Campins decided to teach this semester despite the heavy research load he knows will be coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought about taking time off to complete my work for NASA\u2019s OSIRIS-REx mission,\u201d Campins says. \u201cBut then I thought, no this is what gets students excited \u2026 seeing all they are learning in the classroom play out in real life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what gets students excited \u2026 seeing all they are learning in the classroom play out in real life.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Campins is one of the co-investigators on NASA\u2019s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx for short). It\u2019s NASA first mission to retrieve a sample from an asteroid. The spacecraft launched from Kennedy Space Center in 2016 and begins its approach to the asteroid this week. Granted it won\u2019t arrive at the asteroid until December, but in space terms, it\u2019s very close.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be an exciting year,\u201d Campins says. \u201cWe have lots of questions. We cannot wait to see how asteroid Bennu will surprise us.”<\/p>\n

OSIRIS-REx will spend the next few months acquiring a signal, calibrating cameras and getting ready for orbit.<\/p>\n