{"id":94537,"date":"2019-02-22T16:18:16","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T21:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=94537"},"modified":"2019-02-25T10:43:44","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T15:43:44","slug":"ucf-three-peats-space-another-ride-virgin-galactic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-three-peats-space-another-ride-virgin-galactic\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Three-Peats in Space \u2013 Another Ride on Virgin Galactic"},"content":{"rendered":"

UCF has done it again.<\/p>\n

Another science experiment flew into space today aboard Virgin Galactic\u2019s SpaceShipTwo, making it the third time in three months that UCF\u2019s projects have flown into space.<\/p>\n

In December, an experiment flew aboard Virgin Galactic\u2019s maiden voyage<\/a> into space. And in January, a similar experiment flew aboard Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard spacecraft<\/a>. The experiments all center around the same question \u2014 how do dust particles ranging in size from about the width of a hair to about 2 centimeters behave in microgravity? The answers are important not only to help understand how planets were formed, but also to plan for other space missions to the dusty surfaces of asteroids and the Earth\u2019s Moon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a funny coincidence that both rocket companies happen to be flying them at about the same time,\u201d says Joshua Colwell, a physics professor. His team worked on the experiments.<\/p>\n

This time Colwell and his colleagues who worked on the project followed the launch via Twitter because they were teaching or in meetings. Two of the students who worked on the project were in California for the week of the launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope our experiment will provide valuable data on the dynamics of particle aggregation in the early solar system that leads to the formation of planetary bodies and the reaction of regolith to disturbances expected during asteroid sample return and lander missions to inform the development of safe operational procedures at these exotic sites,\u201d says Stephanie Jarmak, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Physics who worked on the project.<\/p>\n

She and fellow Knight Cody Schultz \u201918<\/strong> watched the launch on site in the Mojave Desert. They, along with more than a dozen other students, worked on this experiment and others that have flown over the years. They will be pouring over all the data collected and reviewing the video captured back at UCF to see what they can learn from all three flights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have observed several interesting aggregation events from data obtained during our previous two suborbital flights, and we are continuing to analyze this data to provide useful input to the planetary science and space exploration community,\u201d Jarmak says.<\/p>\n