NASA announced Oct. 15, 2026, that it selected 12 U.S. institutions for a combined $12 million in research and technology awards. The funding comes through the Minority University Research and Education Project Space Technology Artemis Research initiative, known as M-STAR.
Each institution is eligible to receive up to $1 million. NASA said the awards are intended to strengthen research capabilities, increase faculty and student involvement in aerospace projects, and help institutions compete for later federal and commercial research funding. The agency linked the work to its priorities in lunar, Martian and deep-space exploration.
The selected projects cover a range of engineering and science topics. Several focus on equipment and systems for operating on planetary surfaces, including rover-deployed hardware, autonomous path planning, multi-robot cooperation and technologies for understanding lunar or Martian terrain. The University of Houston will study rover-carried deployable equipment for surface operations, while California State University, Sacramento, will work on vision-language-action models for multi-robot collaboration in unstructured planetary environments.
Other awards address propulsion, energy and materials. The University of Central Florida’s project concerns aerothermal simulation and testing for Artemis. Virginia Commonwealth University will investigate composite materials for radiation-tolerant, hydrogen-compatible hardware associated with nuclear thermal propulsion. The University of New Mexico will study batteries and fuel cells designed for extreme conditions and sustained Moon and Mars operations. Prairie View A&M University’s work centers on repair methods for propulsion hardware made from copper and superalloys.
The remaining projects include radiation instrumentation training at the University of Hawaii at Manoa; cryogenic testing of regolith properties at the University of Texas at San Antonio; environmental-control and surface-infrastructure research at Shaw University; a lunar Raman spectrometer concept at Howard University; and generative AI methods for model-based systems engineering at Fayetteville State University. Kean University will work on combining terrain understanding with control systems for autonomous route planning.
Alicia Baturoni Cortez, MUREP program manager in NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, said the awards would give students and faculty opportunities to develop skills and research infrastructure. She also said the work could help address technology gaps for extended operations on the Moon and, eventually, Mars.
NASA described M-STAR as part of a broader effort to develop technologies for space transportation, human exploration, robotic science and the space economy. The agency said its STEM Engagement office and its Research and Technology Mission Directorate work together to connect technology development with workforce preparation. The announcement did not provide a timetable for the projects or specify how much of each maximum award each institution will receive.
