Florida Space Institute

The Florida Space Institute (FSI) is a research institute of the State University System of Florida and the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida, United States.

FSI is currently led by Interim Director Dr. Julie Brisset.

History
The Florida Space Institute, previously the Space Education and Research Center created in 1990 by UCF, was established in 1996 as a research institute within the State University System of Florida. In 2012, the institute moved from the Kennedy Space Center to the Central Florida Research Park at UCF. The move coincided with the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.

Partner institutions
The Florida Space Institute is part of a broad statewide partnership within the State University System to support and expand Florida's involvement in the field of space exploration. Since its move to Orlando, the institute falls under the organizational and fiscal governance of UCF, though it continues to support research and development projects and services at partner institutions in the State University System as well as government and corporate institutions.

Educational partners

 * Brevard Community College
 * Broward College
 * Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
 * Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
 * Florida Atlantic University
 * Florida Institute of Technology
 * University of Florida
 * University of Miami
 * University of South Florida

Government partners

 * Federal Emergency Management Agency
 * NASA
 * NASA Ames Research Center
 * NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
 * Kennedy Space Center
 * National Science Foundation

Corporate partner

 * SpaceX
 * Yang Enterprises

Arecibo Observatory
The Arecibo Observatory has the world's most powerful planetary radar system, which provides ground-based observations whose quality could only be exceeded with a spacecraft flyby. The 305-meter Arecibo telescope equipped with a 1 MW transmitter at S-band (12.6 cm, 2380 MHz) is used for studies of small bodies in the Solar System, terrestrial planets, and planetary satellites including the Moon. The Arecibo planetary radar is a powerful tool for post-discovery characterization of near-Earth objects, planets, and moons. In addition to precise line-of-sight velocity and range information, depending on the target's size and distance, planetary radar is useful for quickly estimating the instantaneous rotation rate of near-Earth asteroids, resolving the target's size, detecting potential satellites, and ultimately resolving the shape through inverse modeling efforts.

Researchers: Dr. Maxime Devogele, Dr. Estela Fernandez-Valenzuela, Dr. Sean Marshall, Dr. Anna McGilvray, Dr. Noemi Pinilla-Alonso, Dr. Mario De Pra, Dr. Charles Schambeau, Dr. Ana Carolina De Souza Feliciano, Dr. Flaviane Venditti, Dr. Luisa Fernanda Zambrano-Marin.

Astrophysics
Radio astronomy is the study of radio waves produced by a multitude of astronomical objects such as the Sun, planets, pulsars, stars, star-forming regions (i.e., the birthplace of stars), gas clouds, galaxies, supernova remnants, etc. The high sensitivity of the Arecibo radio telescope allows astronomers to detect faint radio signals from far-off regions of the universe. The areas of research include Fast radio bursts, Heliophysics and Space weather, Pulsar Studies, Spectral line Studies, Exoplanets, and Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI).

Researchers: Dr. Periasamy K. Manoharan, Dr. Anna McGilvray, Dr. Benetge Bhakthi Pranama Perera, Dr. Anish Roshi, Dr. Allison Smith, Dr. Sravani Vaddi.

Atmospheric sciences
Atmospheric science is the investigation of the Earth's gaseous envelope. Experiments performed at Arecibo measure upper atmosphere composition, temperature, and densities in order to understand the controlling physical processes. The Arecibo Radio Telescope can measure the growth and decay of disturbances in the changing layers of charged particles that populate the region known as the ionosphere ( altitudes above 30 miles ). The "big dish" is also used to study plasma physics processes in the electrically charged regions of the Earth's atmosphere. where radio waves are influenced most.

Researchers: Dr. Christiano Garnett Marques Brum, Dr. Selvaraj Dharmalingam, Dr. Jens Lautenbach, Dr. Shikha Raizada, Dr. Pedrina Terra dos Santos, Dr. Sukanta Sau, Dr. Michael Peter Sulzer.

Publications

 * Brisset, J., Miletich, T. and Metzger, P., 2020. Thermal extraction of water ice from the lunar surface-A 3D numerical model. Planetary and Space Science, 193, p.105082.
 * Brisset, J., Colwell, J., Dove, A., Abukhalil, S., Cox, C. and Mohammed, N., 2018. Regolith behavior under asteroid-level gravity conditions: low-velocity impact experiments. Progress in Earth and Planetary Science, 5(1), pp.1-21.
 * Brisset, J., Heißelmann, D., Kothe, S., Weidling, R. and Blum, J., 2016. Submillimetre-sized dust aggregate collision and growth properties-Experimental study of a multi-particle system on a suborbital rocket. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 593, p.A3.