As space missions travel farther from Earth, spacecraft must increasingly be able to process and store their own data. Soon, artificial intelligence (AI) could be the primary tool for handling this growing volume of information. NAND flash memory is the current state-of-the-art technology used to store these massive amounts of data, offering storage capacities in the terabit range. It’s the same technology used in laptops, smartphones, and data centers. Ensuring NAND’s reliability in space is critical as these systems increasingly rely on high-density, low-power storage. 

But the radiation in harsh space environments can significantly degrade data stored in NAND flash memory. To counteract this, Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new form of NAND flash memory that can both handle AI and withstand extreme radiation.

This technology uses ferroelectricity, which is when certain materials can hold a permanent, spontaneous electric charge, called polarization. In a recent Nano Letters paper, the researchers show that NAND flash memory made with ferroelectric materials can withstand radiation levels up to 30 times higher than more conventional NAND flash memory. 

“If you send traditional flash memory to space, the radiation interacting with flash memory’s trapped electric charge can easily corrupt the data,” said Asif Khan, an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). “In contrast, ferroelectric NAND flash storage does not store data as trapped electrical charge, but rather stores it as polarization in the material. And polarization is very resilient to radiation effects.”

Radiation Revelation

The insight that NAND flash-compatible ferroelectric memory could withstand high amounts of radiation surprised the researchers. Ferroelectricity in hafnium oxide — the silicon-compatible material that makes this memory possible — was discovered just 15 years ago, and Khan’s lab has been determining its capabilities for the past decade. The team knew ferroelectricity was radiation-tolerant, but not exactly how tolerant when implemented in NAND flash architectures.

Lance Fernandes, an ECE Ph.D. student and the paper’s first author, built the ferroelectric NAND memory chips in Georgia Tech’s cleanroom, then sent the chips for radiation testing to collaborators at Pennsylvania State University. Those tests revealed just how extreme the technology’s tolerance could be.

The Penn State researchers’ testing showed that ferroelectric flash technology can sustain radiation as high as 1 million rads (radiation absorbed doses) — the equivalent of 100 million X-rays — making it 30 times more durable than traditional memory. This is well within the radiation-tolerance threshold for most spacecraft: Low-Earth orbit satellites require a tolerance of 5 – 30 kilorads, geostationary orbits need 100 – 300 kilorads, and deep space missions top out at 1 million rads. 

“For data storage in space, it’s not enough for memory to work. It has to remain reliable under extreme radiation,” said Fernandes. 

“And what makes our storage especially exciting," added Khan, “is that ferroelectric NAND flash isn't just radiation-tolerant; it also stays reliable even in extremely harsh radiation environments. That's exactly what we need for space.”

From orbiting satellites to future missions surveying Jupiter’s moons, successful space exploration requires electronics that can process abundant AI data and will not fail when communication is delayed. Ferroelectric memory offers a way to keep critical data intact, no matter how harsh the environment.

The work was supported in part by SUPREME, one of seven centers in JUMP 2.0, a Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) program sponsored by DARPA. The work was performed as part of the Interaction of Ionizing Radiation With Matter University Research Alliance, sponsored by the Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, under grant HDTRA1-20-2-0002.

Enabling Radiation Hardness in Solid-State NAND Storage Utilizing a Laminated Ferroelectric Stack Lance Fernandes, Stuart Wodzro, Prasanna Venkatesan, Priyankka Ravikumar, Ming-Yen Lee, Minji Shon, Dyutimoy Chakraborty, Taeyoung Song, Sanghyun Kang, Salma Soliman, Mengkun Tian, Jason Yeager, Jackson Adler, Jiayi Chen, Zekai Wang, Douglas Wolfe, Shimeng Yu, Andrea Padovani, Suman Datta, Biswajit Ray, and Asif Khan. Nano Letters 2026 26 (10), 3390-3397

DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c05947

Researchers have come close to simulating space environments in Earth labs, but the combination of extreme thermal swings, complex cosmic radiation, and sustained microgravity that spacecraft experience make it impossible to capture the real thing perfectly.

Now, in a project led by the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) researchers are closing the gap between Earth-based simulations and the true space environment by sending experimental materials to the International Space Station (ISS) for several months of in-orbit exposure. In a rare chance for space research, where most hardware is either left in orbit or burns up on reentry, they are getting those samples back for detailed analysis on Earth.

The materials are set to launch to the ISS in the near future as part of the Materials International Space Station Experiment 22 (MISSE-22), a testbed attached to the outside of the station. Mounted on the forward-facing side of the ISS to ensure predominant exposure to highly corrosive atomic oxygen, the test samples will spend several months enduring the extreme temperatures, radiation, and reactive environment of low Earth orbit. The team is testing a selection of lightweight, research-grade polymers designed to survive these harsh conditions. Once the samples return to Earth, engineers will examine how they held up and use that data to enhance the strategic of future satellite constellations.

This project represents a collaboration across government, academia, and industry, bringing together GTRI, Georgia Tech, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), a California-based R&D firm Hedgefog Research Inc., and DuPont de Nemours, Inc. The research is also supported by Aegis Aerospace, which owns and operates the MISSE Flight Facility platform aboard the ISS.

Why Space is So Hard on Satellites 

Harsh conditions in low Earth orbit — the region of space extending from approximately 100 miles to over 1,000 miles above Earth, where many satellites and the ISS travel — can darken, roughen, and weaken spacecraft surfaces over time. That damage shortens satellite lifetimes and requires engineers to add extra layers of protection, increasing overall logistical burden and mission costs. 

Optimizing material durability is a strategic necessity, explained Elena Plis, a GTRI senior research engineer and principal investigator for the project, because every additional unit of shielding increases the cost of getting to orbit. To design lighter, more resilient materials, researchers need to examine how they degrade in a true space environment. However, most hardware is built for a one-way trip — designed to operate in orbit and then burn up on reentry, taking that valuable material data with it.

“The beauty of this type of experiment is that the materials return to Earth,” said Plis, who is also an affiliate of the Georgia Tech Space Research Institute. “For many missions, stuff is sent up and never seen again. Being able to test returned samples from real space conditions is unique, and I can’t stress enough how exciting that is for us.”
 

A New Generation of Polymers Head for Space

Instead of relying on familiar spacecraft materials like DuPont’s Kapton — a tough, heat-resistant polyimide plastic film that has coated spacecraft exteriors since the Apollo era — the team is sending up a set of new, lightweight, research-grade polymers. These materials are designed to improve the survivability of assets against space’s unforgiving elements.

Plis and her collaborators started with dozens of candidate materials they developed. To earn a spot on the MISSE-22, a sample has to be transparent or translucent, so light can pass through it, and researchers can examine how its optical properties change in orbit. The materials also have to be tough enough to withstand intense atomic oxygen exposure without fragmenting, which would create debris near the ISS. In the end, only a select number of the team’s materials made the cut.

The MISSE-22 testbed holds multiple experimental polymers. Instead of standard illumination, the team constructed a custom on-orbit polariscope: LEDs beneath each sample shine polarized light up through the material. A small camera system then slides over the top to capture these highly specific optical changes on a set schedule over the course of several months in space.

Using Light to Reveal Space Strain

Using polarized light and machine learning to rapidly analyze color patterns in the images they receive from orbit, the researchers can track how stress inside each sample changes over time. Periodically, the system will cycle through the materials, and the images will be downlinked to Earth.

When the extended mission ends and the samples return, the team will compare those in-orbit measurements with detailed lab tests on the actual pieces that flew. Without returned materials, they would only have images and sensor data to work from. By testing the same samples in the lab, they can check how accurate the remote measurements really are and refine their methods.

If the materials perform as expected, the results could help engineers design satellites that last longer in orbit without carrying so much protective weight —providing a significant technological advantage in space domain awareness and asset longevity.

About the Space Research Institute

The Space Research Institute (SRI) at the Georgia Institute of Technology is an interdisciplinary hub that unites faculty, staff, and students to advance research, education, and collaboration in space science and technology. Bringing together expertise across engineering, science, policy, and the humanities, SRI drives innovative projects in areas such as astrophysics, aerospace systems, astrobiology, and space policy while fostering partnerships with academia, industry, and government. As Georgia Tech’s central nexus for space-related initiatives, SRI is committed to advancing discovery, developing the future workforce, and expanding humanity’s understanding of space and its impact on life on Earth. Learn more at space.gatech.edu.

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Georgia Tech Research Institute 

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For generations of scientists, engineers, and other NASA personnel, including many who were not yet alive in 1969, the Apollo Moon landing was a watershed moment—the first steppingstone of space exploration. So in 2017, when the agency announced that after 45 years the Artemis program would finally return humans to the lunar surface, many people working at NASA were elated.

“We were finally doing what everyone wanted to do,” says Liliana Villarreal, AE 96, MS AE 97, who had helped process payloads for shuttle delivery to the International Space Station before being tapped as director of the Artemis II landing and recovery at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. “Our team has always been thinking of going farther. That’s our driving ambition, our human instinct for exploration.”

A New Mission to the Moon

In many ways, this trip to the Moon will be different, Villarreal explains. Artemis is about going to the Moon to stay, to set up human settlements, and learn what it takes to survive and thrive in extraplanetary conditions. Launched in 2022, Artemis I was an uncrewed test flight of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft. (Among the flight directors preparing for this mission was fellow Tech grad Heidi Brewer, AE 05.) Artemis II will use the SLS to carry four astronauts around the Moon to test the equipment and crew in deep-space exploration, and Villarreal oversees the recovery of the crew and Orion capsule upon their return to Earth after their mission around the Moon. Artemis III will return humans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.

Planning for a Lunar Base

Of course, for people to survive on the Moon, they’ll need an independent source of water—essential for human life by itself and as a potential source of breathable oxygen, not to mention as a fuel and propellant. Here too, Tech alumnae were integral in sending ahead equipment to find and drill for water beneath the lunar surface. Jackie Williams Quinn, CE 89, and Janine E. Captain, PhD Chem 05, led NASA’s PRIME-1 team, which landed a combination space drill and spectrometer on the Moon in March 2025. The lander ended up on its side, so the drill wan’t able to operate, but the spectrometer was still able to gather crucial data, which was computer-modeled with help from Georgia Tech’s Regent’s Professor Thomas Orlando. “It operated flawlessly,” says Quinn. “The landing environment was more rugged than we had thought, but we showed that we could take commercial equipment and modify it to enable long-term habitation on a celestial body.”

The wide range of roles that Georgia Tech graduates have in getting humanity back to the Moon underscores the team effort involved in undertaking such an endeavor. In fact, there’s a Yellow Jacket in NASA’s administrative offices helping oversee the entire project. “You’re not going anywhere without the people on the ground,” says Casey Swails, Mgt 07, NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator. “Everyone sees the rockets and the landers, but they don’t see the people who make these missions happen. We rely on universities like Georgia Tech that are forward-leading, with students pushing boundaries and thinking about things differently. It doesn’t matter your major—I switched out of engineering. There is space in space for everyone.”

Artemis II Gets a Lift from Yellow Jackets

Artemis II, which launched April 1, 2026, was the first crewed mission to the lunar orbit in more than 50 years and the farthest that humans have traveled from earth.

Dozens of alumni contributed to NASA’s historic mission, from Shawn Quinn, EE 90, who led the team responsible for systems that processed and launched the rocket and spacecraft to Liliana Villarreal, AE 96, MS AE 97, who oversaw the astronauts’ safe return as Artemis II Landing and Recovery director.

Click here to see the full list alumni who are helping the agency explore the Moon and lay the foundations for crewed missions to Mars >>

Faculty affiliated with Georgia Tech’s Space Research Institute (SRI) were recognized this awards season for achievements that underscore the Institute’s leadership in space‑related research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and high‑impact program development.

Spanning individual faculty honors and major institute‑level research awards, these recognitions reflect the depth and breadth of SRI‑affiliated work across engineering, physical sciences, and large‑scale collaborative initiatives advancing space exploration, technology, and manufacturing.

“SRI faculty are tackling some of the most complex challenges in space research, often through large, highly collaborative efforts,” said W. Jud Ready, executive director of SRI and principal research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. “These awards recognize not only individual excellence, but also the kind of cross‑cutting leadership and teamwork that defines impactful space research at Georgia Tech.”

Presented through peer‑driven nomination processes, Georgia Tech’s internal awards honor contributions across the research lifecycle, from foundational scholarship to interdisciplinary program building and long‑term research impact. This year’s SRI‑affiliated awardees include faculty recognized for outstanding publications as well as leaders and contributors to major research teams shaping Georgia Tech’s space enterprise.

In addition to these honors, SRI also celebrates affiliated faculty who received tenure or promotion this spring, reflecting their sustained contributions to research, teaching, and leadership at Georgia Tech.

SRI Affiliate Award Recipients
 

Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Development Award

Human Space Exploration Team

The Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Development Award recognizes a faculty‑ and staff‑led research team that has built a thought‑leadership platform to significantly expand Georgia Tech’s research and scholarship portfolio. This year’s award honors the Human Space Exploration Team, whose interdisciplinary efforts have advanced Georgia Tech’s role in space research through cross‑college collaboration, external engagement, and integrated research vision.

The team brings together expertise across engineering, physical sciences, materials science, and human‑centered research to address the technical, biological, and societal challenges of sustained human presence in space. Their work spans foundational research, technology development, and program‑level coordination, helping position Georgia Tech as a leader in human space exploration research.

• Phillip First, Professor, School of Physics
• Masatoshi Hirabayashi, Associate Professor, School of Aerospace Engineering
• Brant Jones, Senior Research Scientist, College of Sciences
• Julie Linsey, Professor, College of Engineering
• Peter Loutzenhiser, Associate Professor, School of Aerospace Engineering
• Thomas Orlando (Team Leader), Regents’ Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Frances Rivera‑Hernandez, Assistant Professor, College of Sciences
• Alvaro Romero‑Calvo, Assistant Professor, College of Engineering
• Meisha Shofner, Professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering

Learn more about the Human Space Exploration Team.
 

Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Impact Award

Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (GA‑AIM)
 

• Brian Gunter, Associate Professor, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
• Thomas Kurfess, Executive Director, Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute

Recognizes a research program demonstrating measurable impact, broad influence, and sustained engagement with academic, industry, and community partners.

Learn more about Georgia AIM.

Best Faculty Paper Award

Matthew McDowell
Professor, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

Recognized for outstanding scholarly publication advancing research excellence in engineering.

ANAK Faculty Award

John D. Cressler
Schlumberger Chair in Electronics and Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Honors distinguished faculty contributions to the Georgia Tech community.

Newly Tenured or Promoted SRI Faculty Affiliates

Promoted to Professor

• John A. Christian, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering
• Christopher Thomas Reinhard, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, College of Sciences
• Lawrence Peter Rubin, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

Promoted to Associate Professor / Awarded Tenure

• Christopher E. Carr, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering; School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, College of Sciences
• Pengfei Liu, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, College of Sciences
• Jürgen Rauleder, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering
• Samer Naif, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, College of Sciences

One day after the historic Artemis II launch, the College of Sciences welcomed more than 150 researchers, students, and community members to its signature Frontiers in Science conference. Held on April 2, the full-day event focused on space research guiding discovery and innovation.

As during previous editions, this year’s conference featured more than two dozen scientists, engineers, policy experts, and thought leaders from Georgia Tech and beyond, illustrating how collaboration across fields – from science and engineering to public policy and international affairs – helps to advance strategic research priorities. 

“Frontiers is about discovery and connections across disciplines and generations,” says Susan Lozier, dean of the College of Sciences and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair. “This edition provided an inspiring glimpse into the future of space exploration and the many ways Georgia Tech is contributing to research and missions seeking answers to what lies beyond our planet.” 

Commitment to Space

Space research is a key institutional priority at Georgia Tech, which is home to numerous academic and research programs in planetary sciences, robotics, mission design, space policy, and other areas. 

The recently established Space Research Institute (SRI) serves as the central hub connecting the broad range of space-related research across campus. Led by Jud Ready, who also serves as principal research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, SRI has expanded support for space research and commercialization through initiatives such as the CreationsVC Space Fellows Program and Centers, Programs, and Initiatives seed grant program.

SRI’s efforts are in line with Georgia Tech’s long-standing contribution to space exploration. Hundreds of Yellow Jacket alumni work in the space sector, including several graduates who are playing key roles in the Artemis program. To date, more than a dozen Georgia Tech alumni have traveled to space.

Exploring the Final Frontier

The conference featured a series of panels and discussions led by faculty and researchers from the Colleges of Sciences and Engineering as well as the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. 

Sessions explored how researchers are studying the processes and conditions that support planetary habitability, seeking to answer one of humanity’s greatest questions: Does life exist beyond Earth? Speakers also examined how analog fieldwork in Earth’s extreme environments can inform space exploration, and how space research, in turn, can deepen our understanding of our own world.

Additional conversations centered on building better space missions through improved understanding of team and individual resilience, data collection, navigation, and the development of advanced technologies like the robots developed through the NASA LASSIE Project. 

Frontiers also highlighted Georgia Tech’s commitment to preparing the next generation of space scientists, engineers, and leaders. Student training and engagement were recurring themes throughout the day, with speakers emphasizing opportunities for student-led and student-run missions and research. A panel of Georgia Tech alumni shared their own STEM career journeys, challenging the idea of “one right path” to success — and acknowledging the resources and opportunities available at the Institute. 

A highlight of the conference was a fireside chat with Atlanta-native, retired U.S. Army Colonel and NASA Astronaut R. Shane Kimbrough (M.S. Operations Research 1998). Kimbrough, who spent a total of 388 days in space and performed nine spacewalks across three missions, reflected on his career and the evolution of spaceflight. He emphasized the expanding role of public-private and international partnerships in advancing ambitious goals, such as creating a permanent human outpost on the Moon. 

Policy and Public

The conference also explored how policy influences space discovery and innovation, with discussions touching on such issues as space security, access, governance, sustainability — and the influence of technology and science fiction on public perception and policy. 

Panelists described current policy frameworks governing outer space as struggling to keep pace with rapidly advancing technologies and expanding activities. According to these experts, increasing tensions among commercial, research, and recreational uses of space call for greater coordination among private and government entities to balance competing priorities while maximizing opportunities for innovation and exploration. 

The conference was punctuated by a networking lunch connecting attendees with Atlanta’s public astronomy community – including partners at several universities and the Georgia Tech Astronomy Club, which set up telescopes for attendees to safely observe the sun. Later that evening, the Georgia Tech Observatory hosted its Public Night, welcoming the broader Atlanta community to campus for telescope views of Jupiter, the Orion Nebula, and other celestial bodies. 

The Observatory Night was a fitting conclusion to a full day focused on Georgia Tech’s commitment and contributions to inspiring future generations of space explorers through research, education, and outreach. 

Experience the Frontiers conference in pictures on the College of Sciences’ Flickr account.

If all goes according to plan, humans will head toward the moon this week for the first time since 1972.  

NASA’s Artemis II is set to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday, April 1, at 6:24 p.m. Four astronauts will slingshot around the moon before landing in the Pacific Ocean after a 10-day mission. 

The launch has captivated the Georgia Tech space community, both here on campus and within the alumni base. Several Georgia Tech graduates have key roles in the Artemis program.

On the eve of this next chapter of lunar exploration, several current and former Yellow Jackets discuss why Artemis II matters, what excites them about the mission, and what happens next. 

Read the entire story on the College of Engineering website. 

Georgia Tech researchers have created swarms of tiny robotic particles that move and self-organize using only mechanical design — no electronics, software, or sensors. By encoding behavior in each particle’s shape, the team can control how the swarm spreads and reconfigures, with potential applications in medicine and space.

Read more »

When Polina Verkhovodova began her aerospace engineering Ph.D. at Georgia Tech in 2022, she never imagined developing an interest in space sustainability policy. But a pair of courses showed her how her technical engineering background could merge with policy.  

Verkhovodova enrolled in courses on space policy and space sustainability taught by Thomas González Roberts, an assistant professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering (AE). Although Roberts is new to Georgia Tech, he is deeply connected within the international space community and regularly brings outside experts into his classroom. Guest speakers introduce students to the breadth of careers in the field, from technical analysis to national and multinational policymaking.

One lecture in the policy class, delivered by a representative from the Matthew Isakowitz Commercial Space Scholarship program, opened a door for Verkhovodova. She later won the scholarship while in Roberts’ sustainability course and spent a summer in Washington, D.C., on the government affairs team for Voyager Technologies Inc., the space technology company.

“These courses gave me a new perspective on how we use and consider the space environment,” Verkhovodova said. “They revealed the interdisciplinary nature of the field of space sustainability to me. Now, I see myself working at that intersection of policy and engineering.”

Georgia Tech’s space sustainability course is the first of its kind in the United States, and each year, it focuses on a different theme. In 2025, it was space congestion in low Earth orbit; this year, it’s lunar surface coordination among nation-states.

Building a New Kind of Class

Roberts designed the course around three components: foundations of space sustainability, an introduction to the principal sustainability challenges in the space domain and how space actors try to solve them; a signature guest lecture series he calls “Space Sustainability According To…” to show students how these solutions work in practice; and a project workshop, where students break into small groups to answer research questions under the mentorship of Roberts and an external partner organization.

The guest lecture series brings in professionals from a wide range of organizations — economists, astronomers, diplomats, and industry leaders — to discuss what sustainability means within their part of the space ecosystem. Past speakers have represented institutions including NASA, the United Nations, and Northrop Grumman.

“They all have different perspectives on what it means to be a sustainable steward of the space domain,” Roberts said. “A company needs to be profitable, while NASA’s mission focuses on expanding human knowledge. I want students to see the full spectrum of career paths that will let them work on space sustainability for the rest of their careers, if they choose to.”

These conversations expose students to the tools, ideas, and people shaping the emerging discipline — connections that often extend well beyond the classroom.

Modeling the Future of Space

Some guest speakers are part of the course’s external partnerships with leading space sustainability organizations, like last year’s collaboration with The Aerospace Corporation and this year’s with the Open Lunar Foundation. 

In 2025, The Aerospace Corporation showed students how to use important research tools and also mentored student research teams as they developed their final projects. One of these tools was the MIT Orbital Capacity Assessment Tool (MOCAT), an influential model used to study the effects of space debris on the long-term usability of the most popular portion of the space domain. Space debris and the resulting congestion for satellites and spacecraft navigating around this debris are some of the most pressing challenges in space sustainability.

“One of the most unique experiences was that our professor used his connections to bring the original architects of MOCAT into the class,” said aerospace engineering Ph.D. student Neel Puri.

Among those architects was Miles Lifson. A graduate school colleague of Roberts’ at MIT, Lifson is now a project leader in flight mechanics at The Aerospace Corporation. While Aerospace Corporation already collaborates with Georgia Tech through internships and lab partnerships, Lifson saw the class as a rare chance to work directly with students.

“When I heard about this class, I was really excited,” he said. “Space situational awareness, space debris, spacecraft coordination — these issues are becoming increasingly important as we put more spacecraft into orbit. It’s immensely rewarding to work with students because they’re passionate about solving problems and full of ideas. These are skills the space industry really needs.”

From Classroom to Conference Stage

Lifson also supported students in their final projects, helping them use the MOCAT model to analyze real-world problems and craft policy recommendations. One project, led by Puri, grew into a published conference paper, “Space Sustainability Implications of Combining Space Environment Pathways With Shared Socioeconomic Pathways," which he presented at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SciTech Conference in January.

Their research builds on recent findings that climate change is thinning the upper atmosphere, reducing drag and causing debris to remain in orbit longer. Their work shows that, depending on future climate scenarios, predicted debris in low Earth orbit could vary by 15% to 100%, underscoring the significance of climate factors in long-term analysis and planning for space traffic management.

Even though sustainability is already part of Puri’s research focus, he credits Roberts and the course with opening another door in the field and providing valuable context to his doctoral dissertation.

A New Model for Tech-Driven Policymaking

Roberts sees the course as part of a larger mission.

“Georgia Tech can be a factory for producing tech‑driven policymakers,” he said. “When I was choosing where to go in my career as a faculty member, I wanted to be part of that factory. I get to help shape it, both in my lab and new course offerings like this one.”

With its blend of policy, engineering, real-world tools, and direct access to leading practitioners, Georgia Tech’s space sustainability course is not just pioneering a new curriculum. It’s preparing the next generation of space leaders to navigate and protect an increasingly crowded frontier.

Georgia Tech has announced the recipients of the 2026 Institute Research Awards, honoring faculty, staff, and research teams whose work has made significant scientific, technological, and societal impact. Presented by the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research, the awards recognize excellence across six categories spanning innovation, mentorship, collaboration, engagement, and research program development and impact. This year’s honorees reflect the breadth of Georgia Tech’s research enterprise — from foundational discovery to commercialization and community partnerships — and will be recognized at the Faculty and Staff Honors Luncheon on April 24.

Read more »

A chemical signature hidden in a 3.8‑billion‑year‑old lunar rock is offering new insights into the availability of oxygen within the young Moon.

Published today in the journal Nature Communications, the paper “Trivalent Titanium in High-Titanium Lunar Ilmenite” confirms titanium in a reduced, trivalent state in a black, metal-rich lunar mineral called ilmenite. It’s a state only possible in low-oxygen environments, conditions researchers refer to as “reducing.”

“Models have suggested that these reducing conditions may have varied at different locations and times across the surface of the Moon,” says lead author Advik Vira, a graduate student in the School of Physics who recently earned his doctoral degree. “We hope our microscopy technique can be a valuable step in mapping and understanding the Moon’s 4.5-billion-year history.”

The team anticipates that their technique could be used on many of the lunar samples collected more than 50 years ago by the Apollo missions in addition to the Apollo Next Generation Samples — a group of lunar samples that have been stored under pristine conditions — and new samples from the planned Artemis missions, with Artemis II slated for launch this spring. The technique might also be applicable to samples collected from the far side of the Moon and returned in 2024 by the Chang’e-6 mission.

“The Moon holds clues not only to its own past, but also to the earliest eras of Earth’s evolution — history that has long since been erased from our planet,” Vira says. “This study is a step toward understanding the history of both and a reminder that there is still so much left to learn from the lunar rocks we’ve brought back to Earth.”

The School of Physics research team included corresponding authors Vira and Professor Phillip First; in addition to graduate student Roshan Trivedi; undergraduate students Gabriella Dotson, Keyes Eames, Dean Kim, and Emma Livernois; and Professor Zhigang Jiang, along with Institute for Matter and Systems Materials Characterization Facility Senior Research Scientist Mengkun Tian; School of Chemistry and Biochemistry Senior Research Scientist Brant Jones and Thom Orlando, Regents' Professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry with a joint appointment in the School of Physics. 

The Georgia Tech team was joined by Addis Energy Senior Geochemist Katherine Burgess; Macalester College Assistant Professor of Geology Emily First; along with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Research Scientist Harrison Lisabeth, Senior Scientist Nobumichi Tamura, and Postdoctoral Fellow Tyler Farr, who recently earned a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech’s George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

CLEVER research

The investigation began with a dark gray rock called a lunar basalt. Formed when ancient magma erupted on the Moon’s surface, minerals crystallized as it cooled — preserving key information in their structures. Billions of years later, the rock was brought to Earth by the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, where a small piece is now stored at Georgia Tech’s Center for Lunar Environment and Volatile Exploration Research (CLEVER), a NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) center led by Orlando.

As a NASA virtual institute, CLEVER supports researchers exploring lunar conditions and developing tools for the upcoming crewed Artemis missions, and provided the lunar samples for this research. The SSERVI also plays a critical role in training the next generation of planetary researchers: both Vira and Farr earned their Ph.D.s while on the CLEVER team.

“At CLEVER, we are very interested in understanding the impacts of space weathering,” Vira says. “We implemented modern sample preparation and advanced microscopy techniques to image samples at the atomic level, and were curious to apply it more broadly to the collection of Apollo rocks in the Orlando Lab. This sample caught our attention.”

“When we imaged an ilmenite crystal from the lunar basalt, what struck us first was how uniform and perfect the crystal structure was,” he recalls. “We found no defects from space weathering and instead saw an undamaged, pristine crystal — undisturbed for 3.8 billion years.”

To investigate further, the team analyzed small chips of the rock with Burgess, a member of the RISE2 SSERVI team and then a geologist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. Using state-of-the-art electron microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, Vira determined the oxidation state of the elements in the ilmenite present. 

In spectroscopy measurements, each element leaves a distinct ‘signature,’ Vira explains. “When we brought our results back to Georgia Tech’s Materials Characterization Facility, Mengkun (Tian) noticed something unusual: the signature showed titanium might be present in the trivalent state.”

The presence of trivalent titanium had long been suspected in this lunar mineral. The team was intrigued. 

A new window into old rocks

With funding from Georgia Tech’s Center for Space Technology and Research (CSTAR), Vira returned to the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to analyze additional samples. The results confirmed that more titanium was present than the mineral’s formula (FeTiO₃) predicts — indicating a portion of the titanium present was trivalent.

“That led me to place our measurements in terms of the broader geological context,” Vira shares. Working with First, Vira explored how ilmenite with trivalent titanium could help reconstruct the nature of ancient magmas from the Moon, especially the chemical availability of oxygen.

“Because its location on the Moon was noted during the Apollo mission, we know exactly where this rock is from, and we can determine how old the rock is,” he explains. “When coupled with our trivalent titanium measurements, we can use that information to estimate the reducing conditions for this specific region at the specific time our rock formed.”

If the upcoming Artemis missions return samples suitable for the team’s technique, these rocks could provide a new window into ancient lunar geology. The research also highlights that many lunar samples already on Earth could be reexamined to look for trivalent titanium.

“There is still so much to learn from the lunar samples we have already brought to Earth,” Vira says. “It’s a testament to the long-term value of each sample return mission. As technology continues to advance, this type of work will continue to give us critical insights into our planet and our place in the universe for years to come.”

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-69770-w

Funding: This work was directly supported by the NASA SSERVI under CLEVER. Researchers were also supported by the NASA RISE2 SSERVI and the Heising-Simons Foundation. Funding for collaborations between the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and Georgia Tech for the investigation of lunar minerals was provided by the Georgia Tech Center for Space Technology and Research. Sample preparation was performed at the Georgia Tech Institute for Matter and Systems, which is supported by the National Science Foundation. This work utilized the resources of the Advanced Light Source, a user facility supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and was supported in part by previous breakthroughs obtained through the Laboratory Direct.