$2.3M in space exploration grants awarded to 3 New Mexico universities

Posted: Aug 26, 2020 / 07:13 AM MDT / Updated: Aug 26, 2020 / 07:13 AM MDT

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – NASA awarded three universities in New Mexico grant money to support underrepresented students in STEM fields. The University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University received funding through NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project while NMSU and Navajo Technical University also received research grants for space technology research.

The funds were announced by U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Lujan, Deb Haaland, and Xochitl Torres Small in a press release. The combined $2,288,000 in grant funding was awarded as the following:

NASA Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) Awards

NMSU, $165,000 over three years
UNM, $165,000 over three years

Cooperative Agreements for Research Development Programs

NMSU was awarded $750,000 for its Next Generation Additive Manufacturing for Space Applications project.

Planning Grants to Support Space Technology Opportunities

NASA’s MUREP Space Technology Artemis Research has awarded funds to 15 universities for 16 projects that will support NASA’s advancement of technology needed for its Artemis program that aims to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024. NMSU in partnership with San Diego State University has been awarded $604,000 for the MUREP Advancing Regolith-Related Technologies and Education project. Navajo Technical University received $604,000 for its Micro-Gravity Additive Manufacturing of Metals project.

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