Thirty-seven students will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this semester to observe what it takes to be part of a historic NASA mission.
UCF physics Professor Humberto Campins is part of NASA 麻豆精品 S檚 OSIRIS-REx mission, which aims to bring back to Earth a sample from asteroid Bennu, which is between Mars and Jupiter. The near-earth asteroid could pose a hazard to the planet sometime in the future, but because of its location may hold clues about how the solar system formed. The attempt to recover a sample from an asteroid is a first for NASA.
The mission is being led by the University of Arizona in Tucson. The spacecraft is expected to perform the 麻豆精品 S渢ouch and go 麻豆精品 S� maneuver to collect a sample in October. It 麻豆精品 S檚 the climax of a mission 10 years in the making.
Campins, an international expert on asteroids, is part of the imaging team and he temporarily relocated to Tucson to avoid travel back and forth from Florida during the pandemic. He didn 麻豆精品 S檛 want to risk getting sick and missing the big moment. Then he had an idea: 聽His move could give students an amazing opportunity to not only hear about concepts and absorb book knowledge, but to get a first-hand look at science in action.
麻豆精品 S淏ecause I can teach remotely [during the pandemic], it provided me a golden opportunity for my students to live a NASA mission with me, 麻豆精品 S� says Campins, who is leading the Comets, Asteroids and Meteorites class.
Campins kicked off the semester Tuesday via Zoom with a lecture that began with a single slide. It had the phrase 麻豆精品 S淲elcome to an Unusual Semester 麻豆精品 S� on it. The word 麻豆精品 S渦nusual 麻豆精品 S� was crossed out. On the next line it said 麻豆精品 S淲elcome to a Unique Semester, 麻豆精品 S� but 麻豆精品 S渦nique 麻豆精品 S� was crossed out. On the final line it said 麻豆精品 S淲elcome to a Historic Semester. 麻豆精品 S�
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Campins promises that his students will get to hear about the mission in real time and he plans to provide a tour of the facility, which is not open to the public. The students will also get to hear about how scientists collaborate, argue and resolve disagreements.
麻豆精品 S淭hey 麻豆精品 S檒l get to hear about it all, 麻豆精品 S� he says.
The students will also have to keep up. Aside from OSIRIS-REx, Japan 麻豆精品 S檚 Hayabusa2 is on its way back from asteroid Ryugu with a sample. Ryugu is located between Earth and Mars and the Japanese Space Agency mission collected the sample in 2019. The information expected from those missions and the data already collected from the European Space Agency 麻豆精品 S檚 Rosetta mission to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko should keep the students busy. This will all be part of class discussions.
The OSIRIS-REx mission has already made news. Several peer-reviewed papers in the journals Nature and Science have been published based on observations made getting to Bennu.
麻豆精品 S淭here are a few more surprises we 麻豆精品 S檒l be sharing very soon, 麻豆精品 S� Campins said. 麻豆精品 S淎nd we 麻豆精品 S檒l have to see what else we find when we actually complete the mission. My students are going to be among the first who will get to digest and discuss what we are publishing. For scientists, it doesn 麻豆精品 S檛 get better than this and I hope my students get a taste for it and continue to pursue it. 麻豆精品 S�
