{"id":93601,"date":"2019-01-10T09:39:31","date_gmt":"2019-01-10T14:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601//?p=93601"},"modified":"2025-06-17T14:40:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T18:40:19","slug":"steam-powered-asteroid-hoppers-developed-ucf-collaboration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601//steam-powered-asteroid-hoppers-developed-ucf-collaboration/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601//","title":{"rendered":"Steam-powered Asteroid Hoppers Developed Through Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Collaboration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Using steam to propel a spacecraft from asteroid to asteroid is now possible, thanks to a collaboration between a private space company and the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/n

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ planetary research scientist Phil Metzger worked with Honeybee Robotics of Pasadena, California, which developed the World Is Not Enough spacecraft prototype that extracts water from asteroids or other planetary bodies to generate steam and propel itself to its next mining target./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/n

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ provided the simulated asteroid material and Metzger did the computer modeling and simulation necessary before Honeybee created the prototype and tried out the idea in its facility Dec. 31.  The team also partnered with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, to develop initial prototypes of steam-based rocket thrusters/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/u201cWe could potentially use this technology to hop on the Moon, … Pluto, the poles of Mercury, asteroids /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/u2014 anywhere there is water and sufficiently low gravity./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/u201d /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/u2013 Phil Metzger, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ scientist/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/u201cIt/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/u2019s awesome,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/u201d Metzger says of the demonstration. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/u201cWINE successfully mined the soil, made rocket propellant, and launched itself on a jet of steam extracted from the simulant. We could potentially use this technology to hop on the Moon, Ceres, Europa, Titan, Pluto, the poles of Mercury, asteroids /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/u2014 anywhere there is water and sufficiently low gravity./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/n

WINE, which is the size of a microwave oven, mines the water from the surface then makes it into steam to fly to a new location and repeat. Therefore, it is a rocket that never runs out of fuel and can theoretically explore /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/u201cforever./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/n

The process works in a variety of scenarios depending on the gravity of each object, Metzger says. The spacecraft uses deployable solar panels to get enough energy for mining and making steam, or it could use small radiosotopic decay units  to extend the potential reach of these planetary hoppers to Pluto and other locations far from the sun./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/n

Metzger spent three years developing technology necessary to turn the idea into reality. He developed new equations and a new method to do computer modeling of steam propulsion to come up with the novel approach and to verify that it would actually work beyond a computer screen./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/93601/n