Two payloads on Saturday morning 麻豆精品 S檚 SpaceX-4 launch at Cape Kennedy will have UCF ties.

The launch is scheduled for 2:16 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and will deliver cargo and crew supplies to the International Space Station. Several experiments on the flight will include:

  • Physics professor Joshua Colwell 麻豆精品 S檚 research to explore low-energy collisions of dust particles to better understand the conditions that lead to the formation of the building blocks of planets.
  • Engineering alumnus Jason Dunn 麻豆精品 S檚 3-D printer that was developed for space. Dunn 麻豆精品 S檚 vision for the printer is to produce whatever is needed for space operations in space via the printer.

    • Colwell 麻豆精品 S檚 experiment in a six-inch-square box will look at slow-speed collisions of dust, which aren 麻豆精品 S檛 possible to create in Earth 麻豆精品 S檚 gravity. The results of the low-energy collisions will be used to help understand the processes in action in the protoplanetary disk, the disk of dust and gas that surrounds the center of our solar system. The test will lay the groundwork for experimenting with larger particles.

    Colwell, who is also assistant director of the , studies the origin of the solar system, including the early stages of planets, Saturn 麻豆精品 S檚 rings, and the evolution of comets and asteroids.

    His experiment was chosen two year ago. The project is sponsored by Space Florida, which is Florida 麻豆精品 S檚 spaceport authority and aerospace development organization, and NanoRacks, a private company that operates the first commercial laboratory in low-earth orbit. Colwell, the primary investigator on the project, will be out of town and won 麻豆精品 S檛 be able to witness the launch, but members of his team 麻豆精品 S揂ddie Dove, Julie Brisset and some students 麻豆精品 S� will be on hand when the experiment lifts off.

    Dunn 麻豆精品 S檚 experimental 3-D printer in space would cut down on resupply missions and would be the first time something is manufactured off the planet, which is a necessary step toward multi-planetary colonization.

    The printer could make replacement parts and other items needed, reducing the need for hauling expensive parts and materials aboard spacecraft.

    The aerospace engineer ( 麻豆精品 S�07, 麻豆精品 S�09) interned at Kennedy Space Center and co-founded the company Made in Space, which is now based in NASA Ames Research Park at Moffett Field, Calif.

    Both experiments were selected as part of NASA 麻豆精品 S檚 Flight Opportunities Program.