The UH System—which includes The University of Houston, The University of Houston-Downtown, The University of Houston-Clear Lake and The University of Houston-Victoria—and NASA’s Johnson Space Center announced in a June release that they have expanded their partnership for joint research; technology development; technology transfer; training and educational; and outreach initiatives.
“We are eager to partner and collaborate with The University of Houston System in vital research and technology development initiatives that will enable us to meet our nation’s exploration goals and advance human spaceflight as we work to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon under Artemis,” Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche said.
According to the release, UHCL and NASA’s relationship goes back to the 1960s with the launch of the Manned Spacecraft Center, which later became known as the Johnson Space Center.
Topics included with the partnership between NASA and the UH System include science; engineering; technology; business disciplines; and aerial and ground-based research, which includes data analytics and cybersecurity, according to the release.
NASA hopes the partnership will reduce gaps in mission relevant technology development for future human spaceflight missions at the Johnson Space Center and engage students in aeronautics, space and science, Wyche said in the release.
“Houston is ‘Space City,’ so it’s important for students and faculty in relevant disciplines across the UH System to have opportunities to engage in and be exposed to real world space flight-related research and technology development with NASA,” UH System Chancellor Renu Khator said in the release. “These are the kinds of projects that shape lives and create innovations for the greater good.”
Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace enter partnership with NASA
NASA in July announced a new $3.5 billion Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services, or EVAS, contract partnership with both Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace.
The EVAS contract allows companies to compete for individual task orders for missions through 2034, according to a release.
As part of the contract, Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace will compete for missions on the International Space Station. The companies will focus on advancing spacewalking capabilities in both low-Earth orbit and on the moon as well as updating spacesuits and spacewalk systems to improve the ability to work outside of the ISS and explore the moon’s surface on future Artemis missions and eventually Mars, according to the release.
Axiom Space broke ground on its new 400,000-square-foot headquarters at 13200 Space Center Blvd., Houston, in May of this year. Collins Aerospace will also build a 116,000-square-foot facility at the Houston Spaceport at Ellington Airport in Clear Lake.
