Just call him meteorite man.

University of Central Florida graduate student Robert Macke has packed up his car for a three-month road trip in search of meteorites. He will visit collections in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. 

Last summer he traveled to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., to examine the museum’s extensive meteorite collection as part of his thesis work in planetary science.

Later in the year, Macke will be going to the Chicago Field Museum. He plans to visit collections in London and Paris in 2010.

When asteroids break through the Earth’s atmosphere and land on earth, they shatter into meteorites because of their impact on atmosphere. Macke’s goal is to collect a variety of data from density to volume of as many meteorites as possible.

By studying these rocks, scientists at UCF hope to figure out how asteroids are put together and how strong they are. This is important because asteroids pose a hazard to earth. Should a large asteroid hit earth, it could have catastrophic results, said Dan Britt, a UCF professor of Physics and Macke’s thesis advisor.

“This is something NASA takes very seriously,” Britt said. “There’s nothing imminent, but we are on the lookout because it is a very real danger.”

Britt’s research focuses on developing and using remote sensing tools to determine the composition and evolution of solar system objects such as asteroids, comets, and Mars. Macke’s trip is being funded through a NASA grant.

Britt has a proven track record working with NASA. About a decade ago, Britt served as project manager and Deputy Imaging Team leader for the camera on NASA's Mars Pathfinder. He also participated in NASA's Deep Space One mission to encounter comet 19P/Borrelly in 2001. Now, he's working on fluorescent colored chips for future calibration targets for the Mars Science Laboratory rover, scheduled to launch in 2011. They're expected to help scientists capture infrared photos of the terrain for future analysis of the mysterious, so-called "Red Planet."

Macke is fascinated by the origins of the solar system. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in Physics. Macke continued his studies at Washington University in St. Louis, but he abandoned the doctoral degree he was pursuing to become a Jesuit brother.

Through a connection with one of his Jesuit brothers, Macke was given the opportunity to study the meteorite collection at the Vatican Observatory in Italy. This work put him in contact with UCF’s Britt. That led Macke to UCF and his study of meteorites.

In the future, Macke may continue his work at the Vatican Observatory. He would also like to teach, write books and improve science education, especially for underprivileged students.