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Central Florida Public Media •

Starship in Florida, lightning on Mars

Starship is one step closer to launching from Cape Canaveral following a key Air Force approval.The new complex will provide easier, wider access to launch than its facility on the southern tip of Texas in Boca Chica.Anthony Colangelo, host of the podcast Main Engine Cutoff, said that the Cape is an ideal location for the high number of flights SpaceX needs for its Starship program.“Getting a spot where they can fly so many times is really important, especially for a vehicle like Starship that n...
Central Florida Public Media •

Starliner’s next move and a deep dive into Gemini program

After last year's Starliner Crew mission – which returned without a crew--Boeing’s human spacecraft will fly again, but without people. NASA has reviewed its contract with the space company, which includes a third uncrewed test flight.We’ll speak with Ars Technica’s Eric Berger about Starliner plus a look at some of the recent space news.Then, before Apollo took humans to the moon, there was the Gemini program.The program was crucial to helping humans land on the moon – mastering key things like...
Central Florida Public Media •

“Rocket Dreams” chronicles trillion-dollar commercial space race

Two of the richest men in the world are trying to send Americans back to the moon.The commercial space industry has exploded over the past decades. But heavy hitters like SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos want to go beyond launching things to space – they want to send the next astronauts to the lunar surface.Christian Davenport, staff writer at The Washington Post, said that the growth of the commercial space sector started to feel “real” slowly, but surely, overtime.“T...
Central Florida Public Media •

The politics of space and the latest night sky observations

Budget cuts are hitting NASA hard, including the outlook at sending Americans back to the moon.The Trump Administration’s proposed budget would cut NASA’s funding by 24% overall, including a 47% cut to its science budget.Chris Carberry, CEO and co-founder of Explore Mars, wrote in a recent op-ed, “Let's not allow the golden age of space exploration to turn itself into fool's gold.”He wrote about how political changes and budget cuts could change the course of U.S. space exploration and urged Con...
Central Florida Public Media •

A NASA nominee’s second shot and mimicking space environments here on Earth

Jared Isaacman has been renominated as NASA administrator after having his initial nomination withdrawn in May.In the interim, NASA has been headed by Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. During this time, human space travel has been championed by Duffy, including plans to build a nuclear reactor on the moon. Most recently, the contract for Artemis III has been reopened by Duffy after an overall slow year in development for SpaceX, the original awardee.Anthony Colangelo, host of the podcast M...
Central Florida Public Media •

Launching a new mission to Mars

For Blue Origin’s second New Glenn rocket launch, there’s a lot at stake.The first New Glenn rocket was launched successfully in Jan. after a decade of development. A second rocket launch is planned for no earlier than Nov. 9 from Cape Canaveral. The ship will carry ESCAPADE, a NASA mission tasked with studying Mars’ magnetosphere and weather.Blue Origin plans for New Glenn’s first stage to be reusable for at least 25 flights once functioning properly. Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Tec...
The Charge •

UCF students to lose free transportation after LYNX Route 434 closure

LYNX Route 434, one of the three routes with a stop on the UCF campus, will end service Jan. 11, 2026.The decision was finalized Thursday at the Lynx October Board of Directors meeting in a unanimous vote. This is part of a larger plan in Seminole County to switch to Scout, a microtransit option similar to Uber. Scout can stop at the UCF SuperStop, but costs $4 to $14 per ride.“It forces me to pay more for the new transportation system than the buses. It would just inflate the prices,” said Apol...
Central Florida Public Media •

Federal funding and the future of space science missions

Whether the Juno probe will continue to study Jupiter is unclear amidst a U.S. government shutdown.The spacecraft has orbited Jupiter since its arrival in 2016. It was a planned 20-month mission but was given the green light to explore longer. Its last extension placed the next mission deadline on Sept. 30th, but science journalist Emilee Speck said Juno’s mission is unlikely to continue.“It completed its first round of mission of orbits, and then it got extended, and that extension ended on Sep...
Central Florida Public Media •

Keeping space clean and developing a green thumb off planet

Over 100 million pieces of space junk orbit Earth, sparking concern from some engineers and scientists.Space junk is any object in orbit that no longer functions. The most common removal method for defunct equipment is to set it on a course to burn up in the atmosphere. Otherwise, it is moved into a “graveyard orbit” where it is unlikely to collide with anything. Very few are removed from orbit manually.Moriba Jah, professor at the University of Texas at Austin and the co-founder and chief scien...
Central Florida Public Media •

Bottle Rockets and Space Agriculture

Kids from all around the country are launching rockets from their schools on October 9th — rockets fueled by the chemical reaction of baking soda and vinegar.The second annual Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Rocket Day will be celebrated by 14,000 classrooms. The hands-on experience with STEAM is aimed at inspiring a future generation of scientists and engineers.Emily Calandrelli, a commercial astronaut and science communicator, participated last year. She viewed baking soda rockets as one of the best...
Central Florida Public Media •

An exoplanet milestone and talking about space junk

The number of known planets outside our solar system has exceeded 6,000, according to a tally kept by NASA.This achievement comes just 33 years after the first exoplanet was observed in 1992.Josh Colwell and Addie Dove, planetary scientists at the University of Central Florida and hosts of the podcast Walkabout the Galaxy, explained that there are several different ways of identifying exoplanets.Most have been discovered as the planet transits, or crosses in front of, the star it’s orbiting. Ano...
Central Florida Public Media •

Starship’s success and Neptune’s peculiar tagalong

On its 10th test flight, SpaceX’s Starship successfully launched from Boca Chica, Texas, and just a little over an hour later, it made a splash landing in the Indian Ocean.It’s a big step in SpaceX’s ambitious Starship program...which is also playing a part in NASA’s plans to land humans on the moon.We’ll speak with Main Engine Cutoff’s Anthony Colangelo about the flight and what SpaceX needs to accomplish moving forward.Then, a new discovery shows a distant object in a weird pattern with Neptun...
Central Florida Public Media •

Finding signs of life on rocky planets and distant ocean worlds

NASA’s Perseverance rover is on the search for ancient signs of life on Mars. To do that, it’s examining and collecting rocks from the Martian surface.One of those samples has what scientists describe as poppy seed or leopard print-like spots – which could be evidence of past organic life.We’ll speak with University of Florida’s Amy Williams about the findings. Plus, a look back at the Curiosity Rover’s 13 years on Mars.Then, scientists are looking at distant icy moons for signs of life.On Satur...
Central Florida Public Media •

NASA policy, commercial space and nuclear power on the moon

NASA’s acting administrator and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is starting his tenure at the space agency with a big goal: build a nuclear fission reactor on the moon.

To keep up with other countries’ plans to put humans on the moon, America’s space program needs nuclear power. Duffy’s plan for a nuclear power plant on the Moon by 2030 is ambitious, but this idea didn’t come out of nowhere. China has planned to build a nuclear power reactor for the International Lunar Research Station, a joint project between China and Russia.
The Charge •

Production behind Pipi: director speaks to up-and-coming student animators

Animator Julia Schoel presented to UCF Animation Production Club on Tuesday evening, sharing insight into their own production process. Schoel discussed the production process for their original work, "The Legend of Pipi" to a crowd of around 60 people over Zoom. Created as a thesis film for the Savannah College of Art and Design, the short film follows Pipi, a small cat hero trying his best to rescue a princess after being the only volunteer to help.

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