Space@VT

Virginia Tech’s Center for Space Science and Engineering (Space@VT) comprises a group of faculty, students, and staff devoted to the investigation and utilization of the space environment. Our mission is to provide forefront research, instruction, and educational outreach in the fields of space science and engineering utilizing a holistic approach of theoretical modeling, advanced simulation techniques, space system and instrument design, and experimental data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation. The vision of Space@VT is to be a premier space research and workforce training organization of international caliber advancing the broad research, educational, and outreach mission of Virginia Tech. Space science in our context includes all of the scientific disciplines that involve space exploration and natural phenomena occurring in space. A key component for us is space weather which is the collection of physical processes beginning at the Sun (e.g. solar flares and coronal mass ejections) that produce effects in the geospace environment (e.g. aurora, enhanced radiation and electric fields) that ultimately affect human activities on Earth and in space (e.g. navigation and communication anomalies, power grid disruption, spacecraft damage, etc.). Space engineering includes the development and application of technologies that support space exploration and utilization. This includes space mission design, remote and in situ sensing, spacecraft structures and subsystems, ground stations, orbit solutions, guidance, and navigation.