{"683108":{"#nid":"683108","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Space: The Current Frontier","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERight now, about 70 million miles away, a Ramblin\u2019 Wreck from Georgia Tech streaks through the cosmos. It\u2019s a briefcase-sized spacecraft called Lunar Flashlight that was assembled in a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gtri.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI)\u003C\/a\u003E cleanroom in 2021, then launched aboard a SpaceX rocket in 2022.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe plan was to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2022\/11\/mission-moon-lunar-flashlight\u0022\u003Esend Lunar Flashlight to the moon\u003C\/a\u003E, where the spacecraft would shoot lasers at its south pole in a search for frozen water. Mission control for the flight was on Georgia Tech\u2019s campus, where students in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ae.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EDaniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering (AE)\u003C\/a\u003E sat in the figurative driver\u2019s seat. They worked for several months in 2023 to coax the craft toward its intended orbit in coordination with NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA faulty propulsion system kept the CubeSat from reaching its goal. Disappointing, to be sure, but it opened a new series of opportunities for the student controllers. When it was clear Lunar Flashlight wouldn\u2019t reach the moon and instead settle into an orbit of the sun, JPL turned over ownership to Georgia Tech. It\u2019s now the only higher education institution that has \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/10\/students-controlling-interplanetary-spacecraft-nearly-37-million-miles-campus\u0022\u003Econtrolled an interplanetary spacecraft\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELunar Flashlight\u2019s initial orbit, planned destination, and current whereabouts mirrors much of the College of Engineering\u2019s research in space technology. Some faculty are focused on projects in low earth orbit (LEO). Others have an eye on the moon. A third group is looking well beyond our small area of the solar system.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENo matter the distance, though, each of these Georgia Tech engineers is working toward a new era of exploration and scientific discovery.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/magazine\/2025\/spring\/space-current-frontier\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMeet them in the latest issue of Helluva Engineer magazine.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech engineers have the solar system covered, with projects hundreds \u2014 or millions \u2014 of miles from home.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech engineers have the solar system covered, with projects hundreds \u2014 or millions \u2014 of miles from home."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2025-07-11 16:41:16","changed_gmt":"2025-07-11 16:45:55","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-07-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-07-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677399":{"id":"677399","type":"image","title":"Space Helluva Engineering Magazine","body":null,"created":"1752252143","gmt_created":"2025-07-11 16:42:23","changed":"1752252143","gmt_changed":"2025-07-11 16:42:23","alt":"Composite image of Europa behind Azadeh Ansari holding a computer chip that combines many sensors into one small package.","file":{"fid":"261294","name":"space-frontier-thumb.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/11\/space-frontier-thumb.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/11\/space-frontier-thumb.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":444787,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/07\/11\/space-frontier-thumb.jpg?itok=KRFpDEnk"}}},"media_ids":["677399"],"groups":[{"id":"1237","name":"College of Engineering"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193657","name":"Space Research Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJason Maderer\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}