University of Central Florida

The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university in Orlando, Florida, with a strong physics and planetary science research program. Its Stephen W. Hawking Center for Microgravity Research and Education designs small satellite missions that combine planetary science with hands-on student spacecraft engineering.

UCF's flagship CubeSat mission, Q-PACE (CubeSat Particle Aggregation and Collision Experiment), was developed to study low-velocity collisions between millimeter- to centimeter-scale particles in a long-duration microgravity environment, directly addressing open questions in planetesimal formation theory. The mission was selected by NASA's ELaNa CubeSat launch initiative and represents UCF's core contribution to the university small satellite community.

Through Q-PACE and related microgravity research, UCF trains students in the full spacecraft lifecycle — from science payload design through integration, testing, and mission operations — while advancing fundamental research into how planets and small bodies first assembled from dust and pebbles in the early solar system.