UCF’s SpaceU jersey features a motion-blur pattern across the chest, reflecting hypersonic airflow.
Courtesy: UCF Athletics
UCF football will be donning its Mission IX: HyperSpace uniform on Saturday, a look the team announced earlier this fall, which is inspired by UCF’s hypersonic research.
UCF’s SpaceU helmet has a mach diamond design running straight down the center. Mach diamonds are the glowing, diamond-shaped patterns that form in a rocket’s engine exhaust.
Courtesy of UCF Athletics
Starting at the top with the helmet design — a bold mach diamond stripe going through the middle of the helmet. Mach diamonds are the glowing, diamond-shaped patterns that form in a rocket’s engine exhaust when it’s pushing out air at extreme, supersonic speeds. It’s a directional phenomenon, as the streak on the helmet creates the illusion of the players moving at hypersonic speed.
It’s a small detail, but one that instantly connects the football field to the physics happening inside UCF’s research labs.
The back bumper of UCF’s SpaceU helmet uniform says the Latin phrase “Citius Est Futurum,” which translates to “The Future is Faster.”
Courtesy: UCF Athletics
Turning the helmet around reveals the Latin phrase “Citius Est Futurum” on the back bumper, which translates to “The Future is Faster”. It’s the motto for the Mach 10 Oblique Detonation program, which studies the detonation phenomena for propulsion.
Justin Sprunger, a graduate research assistant and the hypersonic facilities director for HyperSpace, says the motto printed on the helmet sums up their entire mission.
“The future is faster is both a reference to the fact that as we continue to develop as humans we are researching and driving the technology faster, and faster, and faster,” Sprunger said. “It’s also a reference to the program that were working on, but then also it’s a good reminder that whether you are pushing it or being dragged by it, it’s an absolute fact that the future is faster.”
At the top of the jersey sits the HADES center patch. HADES is a hypersonic wind tunnel responsible for letting researchers replicate very high number and high temperature flows on the ground that would normally be seen during hypersonic flight.
HADES allows engineers to push the boundaries of what’s possible long before any vehicle ever leaves the ground. Testing a lot of principles, whether that be outer body aerodynamics or internal combustion conditions.
Center patch on top of the UCF SpaceU jersey representing HADES. A hypersonic wind tunnel used for testing.
Courtesy: UCF Athletics
Located on the pants is a Mission IX patch, a delta shaped emblem covered by eight Polaris stars, representing each of the previous space game missions.
Even the numbers on the jersey tie into the theme. As Sprunger explained, the design is a reference to the sound of the word ‘hyper’. Sprunger said when he hears “hyper,” the first thing that comes to mind is Star Wars, where spaceships are moving faster than the speed of sound and stars are stretching into motion blur as ships jump to incredible speeds.
“When you hear ‘hyper’ you kind of get that Star Wars hyperdrive blast when all the stars start zooming past you,” Sprunger said.
One of the key creative voices behind the design is graduate research assistant for the propulsion research lab Nate Dreyer. Dreyer said the uniform is their chance to show the world what mission Hyper Space is.
“College football is such a thing, that we can put our brand identity out there, put a little about ourselves out there and showcase for the world; and everybody is gonna be watching,” Dreyer said. “So, it will be a cool moment to get to see the hard work that we do, be actually represented to the world.”
For UCF, Mission IX isn’t just a uniform, it’s a statement. An homage to where the program is rooted, where the university is headed and how fast they plan to get there.
“Our lab has been doing work at UCF for quite a number of years but after the success from some of our early work the size of the lab and the size of our funding profile has just exploded,” Dreyer said. “And what we want to do is take that momentum and run with it, what were doing is scaling up our work extremely fast this year and it’s not going unnoticed.”