Florida Tech is collaborating with
British Titanium, Cambridge University
and the Kennedy Space Center on a NASA-funded
project to produce oxygen from the
Moon’s regolith (top soil covering
solid rock). The total budget for phase
I of the project is $1.8 million, with
British Titanium serving as the award’s
primary contractor. Initial phase 1
financial support to Florida Tech is
$430,000.
Liquid oxygen is by far the
largest component of rocket fuel,
forming as
much as 85 percent by weight. Its
production on the moon would enable rockets
to
re-fuel on their way to far-flung
corners of the earth’s solar system.
Dr.
Jonathan Whitlow, associate professor
of chemical engineering, is Florida
Tech’s principal investigator. “Locally
produced oxygen for rocket propulsion
promises by far the greatest cost
and mass savings. It is crucial to
achieving
a sustained and affordable human
robotic program to explore the solar
system
and beyond,” he said.
A solution is in the works to reduce
the amount of construction and demolition
waste put into landfills. A $99,200
waste reduction grant that Dr. Howell
Heck, associate professor of civil
engineering, received from the Florida
Dept. of Environmental Protection
funds his proposal to improve the
environment and help Habitat for
Humanity.
Heck will work with other
local organizations to develop
better ways to collect,
store and transport construction
and demolition waste diverted from
construction sites and recover
the construction and demolition waste
at landfills. This effort is designed
to result in more, better-quality
construction materials to be sold
by the Habitat for Humanity ReStore
in Melbourne. This will help Habitat
for Humanity generate income to
fund
low-cost housing projects.
Dr. James Mantovani received a $75,000
NASA grant to work on an electrodynamic
system for self-cleaning solar panels
and other surfaces, which could be
used on future space exploration missions
to Mars and the moon. He joins in this
research with the University of Arkansas,
Appalachian State University, Oklahoma
Baptist University, MIT, NASA Kennedy
Space Center and NASA Glenn Research
Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
|
