Greg’s a good man. I hear he’s got a new job in DC that will be instrumental for US space development, but I’m not sure I am allowed to tell what it is yet. All I can say for now is that he is a highly recommended follow. @GregWAutry
“Moon colonies, helium-3 and future science: NASA's long-term goals after the Artemis II mission”.
Quotes from retired (and famous) NASA launch director Bob Sieck, @Alain_FSI, and myself. https://t.co/ssN898QWe9
I'm bummed to see this Canuck lunar rover canceled. It was planned to fly on a Firefly lander and would have been a great piece of international and commercial space cooperation.
https://t.co/LJ3xBYWShT
This was a GREAT panel talk on beating China to the Moon vs. beating China on the Moon. A topic put forward by Bhavya Lal. Moderated by Jeff Foust with Lori Garver, Thomas Zurbuchen, yours truly, and Pete Garretson.
Happy to be here at the Beyond Earth Symposium in DC. My @UCF@UCFBusiness colleague @GregWAutry is on the stage with other space leaders talking about priorities of lunar exploration.
On Feb. 21, UCF announced the Go For Launch campaign — a $3.5 billion, multi-year initiative designed to expand opportunity, accelerate innovation and deepen our impact. ⭐️
https://t.co/RAk02jcODB
If @elonmusk and SpaceX are - as we all hope - to have 10,000 Starships per year rolling off the assembly line, some of which will be dropping off tourists to the @gru_space lunar hotel, then let's spend 44 minutes learning about the impact of launch on lunar soil.
Luckily, I have just the video.
https://t.co/QpQbrIsXPr
Inaugural advisory board meeting for the Stephen W. Hawking Center at @UCF. This fantastic group of advisors is already propelling the center. Chair Drew Belani @TheBrokerDrew who pulled this together is on the right. Board members Nicole Stott (ret. NASA Astronaut) and Chris Stott (CEO Lunar Data Holdings) were unable to attend this first meeting.
A student I’m working with, Noah. He built a test rig to study how dust behaves along the plume reflection planes for a multi-engine lunar lander, using a crane to lower it to the lunar regolith simulant like a lunar landing. This is just cold-compressed gas, not hot fire thrusters, and it is ambient pressure, not vacuum, but it is valuable to study the phenomenology of dust behavior in complex flow fields and it is a first step before higher fidelity but more expensive tests.
Join me early tomorrow morning on our local Orlando ABC affiliate @wftv for my play by play commentary on the Crew12 launch, starting about half an hour before the 5:15 (Eastern) launch. @UCF@FSI_Orlando@CarlWillisTV Wake up early with me!
Filming the RIDER facility doing tests for @cislune under NASA contract. RIDER = Regolith Interactions for Extraterrestrial Rovers. Cislune is testing the wear of different alloys on lunar rover wheels to inform Artemis rover design.
Simulated lunar landing with 9 thrusters blowing dust at the Exolith Lab at @UCF. I often refer to this student as an example of proactively pursuing your career. He approached me unsolicited to do lunar research. We brainstormed ideas and I asked the Florida Space Research Initiative for $5k to fund him, and they said yes. So here he is building a lunar lander mockup and taking data — just because he took the initiative.
@SciGuySpace reveals the @UCF Space Ideation Challenge! Cash prizes for your ideas on how to accelerate America's lead in space.
https://t.co/5Rlob9Llgh
Orlando Spectrum News 13 is visiting the Exolith Lab today to film how @UCF is supporting the Artemis program. First-up is my student Noah Brockhoff showing his research into how multi-engine lunar lander plumes blow dust along the plume reflection planes.