NASA Invests $12 Million in 12 U.S. Universities to Accelerate Moon, Mars and Deep-Space Technologies

NASA is investing $12 million in a dozen U.S. universities to speed research and technology development aligned with the agency’s plans for the Moon, Mars, and deeper-space exploration. The awards come through the Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) under a new effort called Space Technology Artemis Research (M‑STAR), designed to strengthen institutional research capacity while expanding opportunities for students and faculty to work on NASA-relevant challenges.

Each selected institution can receive up to $1 million. NASA says the funding is intended to build scientific and engineering capabilities, increase participation in aerospace research, and improve recipients’ competitiveness for future federal and commercial R&D funding. The agency is positioning the program as both a technology accelerator and a workforce-development pipeline—supporting near-term Artemis needs while preparing researchers and students for sustained exploration missions.

“We are excited to launch this new cohort of M‑STAR investigators,” said Alicia Baturoni Cortez, MUREP program manager in NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement. She added that the investments help institutions develop skills, knowledge, and infrastructure, while also enabling NASA to address technology gaps associated with long-duration operations on the lunar surface and, ultimately, on Mars.

The funded projects span a wide range of topics crucial for future missions, from robotics and autonomous navigation to radiation measurement, advanced materials, and power systems that can survive extreme environments.

California State University, Sacramento will work on adaptive vision-language-action systems intended to enable resilient collaboration among multiple robots operating in unpredictable planetary terrain. The University of Central Florida will develop M‑FAST, combining simulation and testing to improve understanding of aerothermal performance for Artemis applications. At the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, HI‑STRIDE will train students in radiation instrumentation, detection, and exploration—skills central to operating safely beyond Earth’s protective magnetosphere.

Several projects focus on surface operations and the lunar environment itself. The University of Houston’s RODEO effort targets rover-carried, on-surface deployables to support exploration activities. The University of Texas at San Antonio will characterize the physical and mechanical behavior of regolith under cryogenic conditions using its Multi‑Planetary Surface Simulator (MPS2). Howard University’s LumSHRS project will advance a compact Raman spectrometer concept for mini-rover in‑situ analysis and standoff remote sensing.

Autonomy and control are also a major theme. Kean University will integrate terrain understanding from AI models with robust control methods to improve autonomous path planning. Fayetteville State University will tackle a different AI challenge: using method-compliant generative AI to translate documents into models for model-based systems engineering across Artemis, in a project called Doc2Model.

Other awards address hardware and infrastructure needed for sustained exploration. Virginia Commonwealth University will develop boron nitride nanotube-reinforced composites aimed at radiation-tolerant, hydrogen-compatible secondary hardware for nuclear thermal propulsion systems. Shaw University’s Project ARES will serve as a materials-by-design platform linked to regenerative environmental systems and surface infrastructure. Prairie View A&M University will pursue directed-energy-deposition repair methods for copper-to-superalloy propulsion components, incorporating AI/ML from design through validation. The University of New Mexico will investigate extreme-environment batteries and fuel cells through POWER‑Artemis to support long-duration operations on the Moon and Mars.

NASA framed the initiative as a joint push across the agency: the Office of STEM Engagement is building connections among education, industry, and government to grow the talent pool, while the Research and Technology Mission Directorate is focused on the next generation of space technologies that underpin future missions and U.S. aerospace leadership.

Why it matters

Artemis and later Mars missions will require new capabilities—autonomous systems, resilient power, advanced materials, and tools for working in harsh radiation and temperature extremes. By funding research at minority-serving and other participating institutions, NASA is expanding who gets to build those technologies while strengthening the workforce pipeline. Watch for which projects translate into flight-ready prototypes and follow-on federal or commercial awards as the program matures.