Kyle C. Hartig, Ph.D., and James Baciak, Ph.D., professors in UF’s Nuclear Engineering Program, and members of the UF Astraeus Space Institute, are leading two complementary projects focused on space-based remote sensing for nuclear security.

Together, the efforts aim to develop next-generation detectors capable of identifying faint nuclear-related signals from orbit. This is a critical capability as space becomes increasingly important for both scientific exploration and global security.

Read more about How Space-Based Sensors Can Detect Nuclear Activity.

The image comes from the ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey, or ACES, a global effort to map the dense clouds of gas that surround the Milky Way’s central black hole. UF astrophysicist Adam Ginsburg, Ph.D., co-led the team responsible for processing the massive dataset, supported by UF researchers and graduate students Nazar Budaiev, Alyssa Bulatek, Savannah Gramze and Desmond Jeff.

Read more about UF Researchers Help Capture Most Detailed View Yet of the Milky Way’s Core.

In space, however, clotting’s the challenge.

A study by University of Florida Health scientists, published in the journal Biomedicines, reveals a space oddity — platelets become less effective at clotting after about five days in the microgravity of outer space. Platelets are components of blood that help stop bleeding.

Read more about Houston, We Have a Problem: UF Study Points to Clotting Glitch in Space.

Malany, an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy, a member of UF’s Astraeus Space Institute, and director of the in-space Biomanufacturing Innovation Hub, recently published findings showing how muscle cells adapt in space. Her team studied bioengineered three-dimensional muscle tissues derived from biopsy cells from both younger and older individuals and observed how they responded to electrical stimulation in microgravity.

Read more about UF Scientist Studies Muscle Loss in Space To Benefit Astronauts and Patients on Earth.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, UF researcher Nazar Budaiev, along with Associate Professor of Astronomy Adam Ginsburg, Ph.D. and an international team of astronomers, captured the first detailed views of Sagittarius B2, a massive cloud of gas and dust near the center of the Milky Way. Often called a “stellar nursery,” Sgr B2 is the most active birthplace of stars in our galaxy.

What the astronomers saw was unexpected, and the images opened an entirely new window into the cloud’s hidden complexity.

Read more about UF Astronomers Use James Webb Space Telescope To Uncover Hidden Stars in the Milky Way’s Largest Stellar Nursery.

“What stands out the most is just the overwhelming gratitude,” Ferl said. “It was such an amazing opportunity for a scientist to go to space and actually do science.”

Ferl, a professor in UF’s Horticultural Sciences Department, Director of the Astraeus Space Institute, and Assistant Vice President of Research, became one of the first space biologists to fly alongside his own experiment — a moment that marked a new era in researcher-led missions. His suborbital journey provided a rare opportunity to study how terrestrial biology responds to the very first moments of spaceflight.

Read more about A Year After Liftoff: UF Scientist Reflects on Historic Space Flight and the Future of Biology Beyond Earth.

Dr. Rachael Seidler, Understanding Astronaut Health

In this week’s Tech Tuesday, UF Innovate host Elora Duong interviews Dr. Rachael Seidler, whose research examines how the central nervous system and brain structure adapt to the challenges of space travel and how these changes affect astronauts once they return to Earth.

“Have you ever wondered what it takes to keep astronauts healthy? Let’s learn more. Dr. Seidler, tell us a little bit more about who you are and what you do,” said Duong.

“Sure. I’m Professor Rachael Seidler. I work at the University of Florida. I’m a professor in applied physiology and kinesiology. I’m also the deputy director of UF’s Astraeus Space Institute, and I get to do some really exciting work. I study how the human brain and human performance change when people travel to space,” said Dr. Rachael Seidler, professor at UF’s Department of Applied Physiology & Kinesiology and Neurology.

Read more about University of Florida Professor Explores the Consequences of Space Travel on the Human Body.

As part of Alexandrov’s training and education in space medicine and the UF Astraeus Space Institute and College of Medicine’s space medicine program development, Alexandrov worked closely with VAST’s lead flight surgeon Dana Levin, M.D., and engineering teams in Long Beach, California. Part of his role involved learning how to integrate medical expertise into the engineering design process — helping the company develop human systems that support long-term space missions. 

“Historically, there has been a disconnect between medical and engineering processes,” Alexandrov said. “But both fields are fundamentally about managing risk. Bridging gaps in communication and professional understanding is important to helping humanity gain a permanent foothold among the stars.”

Wagner Vendrame, professor in the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Science (UF/IFAS) environmental horticulture department and part of UF’s Astraeus Space Institute, will send four types of UF-bred seeds to the International Space Station on Thursday afternoon on the payload of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The Cape Canaveral launch will take a manned crew to the ISS via SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.  

The seeds – strawberries from the Tampa Bay region, two types of Florida orchids and a type of turf grass – will remain untouched on the space station for about a week and will return on the next scheduled return trip to Earth, at which point Vendrame will germinate the seeds and test the genes of the grown plants for changes that only come from space flight.  

University of Florida research scientists Rob Ferl and Anna-Lisa Paul weren’t asking NASA for just 12 grams of lunar regolith — basically dust and dirt from the moon — but that was the payoff in 2022 for their perseverance. It’s about the same volume of material you’d find inside a Keurig coffee pod. NASA saw it as a finite resource collected more than 50 years ago by the first and last astronauts to walk on the moon. The experiments Ferl and Paul wanted to do would alter it permanently.

The reluctance endured even though the space agency has honored them repeatedly for their work. In 2015, they were awarded for the “Most Compelling Science” on the International Space Station for experiments that countered conventional wisdom about root growth in microgravity environments. Each won NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal — Ferl in 2016 and Paul in 2018.