Florida Tech students benefit from a close-knit academic community. Small class sizes, with a low student-to-faculty ratio, guarantee one-on-one attention from your professors. Professors strongly encourage students to participate in research projects to gain hands-on observations with our telescopes or work with data from space-based observatories, such as the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes.

Exploring fascinating topics from the evolution of the Solar System to exoplanet habitability, our faculty are experts in their fields—and thanks to small classes and team opportunities for research, you’ll get to know and work closely with many of them. They place high priority on both teaching and research and truly care about student success.

Florida Tech’s facilities are what you would expect from the best colleges for physics and space sciences.

Home to all physics and space sciences programs, the F.W. Olin Physical Sciences Center is equipped with state-of-the-art labs, cleanrooms and darkrooms, a 3,500-square-foot high bay area, teaching classrooms with full multimedia and smart whiteboards and the rooftop Ortega Observatory.

Florida Tech is a founding institution and member of the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy, which operates automated one-meter-class telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in Chile and at a facility on the Canary Islands. All are accessed and controlled online.

Beyond the classroom, planetary science students make connections and establish lasting professional relationships through participation in academic organizations like Sigma Pi Sigma (the national physics honor society), student government and over 200 other campus-wide student organizations.

An organization of special interest to planetary science students, S3, comprises the Florida Tech Student Astronomical Society (SAS) and student chapters of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) and Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS). It seeks to advance knowledge of physics, space sciences and engineering and encourages interest in space development throughout the academic and local communities. Through conferences, projects and internship opportunities, it introduces students to the professional community and helps them to develop networking and other career skills.

Professors actively encourage students to join one of the various research groups in the department as early as their first year, working with data from spacecraft such as the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, Chandra X-ray Observatory and XMM-Newton. In the planetary science program, professors at Florida Tech work on space weather, solar physics, planetary geology, exoplanets, astrobiology and the science of human space flight.

At Florida Tech you will be immersed in our rich heritage and ongoing engagement in the dynamic field of space science. Founded during the early days of the U.S. space program, Florida Tech is located on the Space Coast, also home to NASA-Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral just north of us.

Our 130-acre campus is in Florida’s "High-Tech Corridor" in Melbourne, an area with numerous high-tech corporations and government and military organizations located nearby that provide a variety of internship and employment opportunities.

Florida Tech’s connections to NASA and world-leading aerospace companies such as Northrop Grumman Corp., Lockheed Martin, SpaceX and L3Harris Technologies Inc. allow our students to form valuable networks that lead to future career opportunities.

When it’s time for rest and relaxation, you’ll find there is plenty of fun to be had in our corner of the universe! Florida Tech is minutes from the Indian River Lagoon and just across the causeway from 72 miles of beautiful beaches on the Atlantic Ocean. The Florida Keys and the Orlando theme parks are only a short trip away.  Our rich campus life includes intramural and collegiate sports, social activities and over 200 campus-wide student organizations.

Internships are an exciting and hands-on way for planetary science students to gain experience in the workplace while preparing for their career. These valuable learning opportunities build skills and add valuable references to your resume that equip you for future work in the field. Students looking for planetary science internships find opportunities at many local and international organizations, including:

• NASA
• L3Harris Technologies Inc.
• Lockheed-Martin
• Leonardo DRS
• Space Telescope Science Institute

These planetary science internships provide experience that leaves students confident knowing they have the skills and knowledge to succeed in the career world.