COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Editor's Note: The attached video aired in February 2023.
The Texas A&M University system has announced that they have partnered with the United States Space Force to lead a new initiative through the Space Strategic Technical Institute for In-Space Operations (SSTI-ISO), a program that will base its operations at the Texas A&M RELLIS campus in Bryan.
“No university is better equipped for aeronautics and space projects than Texas A&M,” said Texas A&M University System chancellor John Sharp in a news release. “We thank General B. Chance Saltzman and the U.S. Space Force for trusting us with this important responsibility.”
Dr. Robert Ambrose, J. Mike Walker '66 Chair Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Texas A&M and Director for Space and Robotics Initiatives for the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, will direct the program.
“This is a real dream team for in-space operations,” Ambrose said in the news release. “These are professors that I have known for decades in some cases, and I’m really excited to bring everyone together to help the Space Force with its important mission in space.”
The five-year SSTI-ISO project has been given $37.6 million for their work, and will include over 50 researchers and students from a number of top academic institutions from around the U.S., including the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin, Purdue University, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of New Mexico, the University of Texas at El Paso, Prairie View A&M University and the Southwest Research Institute.
In addition to the funding, major names have also signed letters of support for the program. Among the industrial partners giving their support to the initiative include Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Intuitive Machines, Blue Origin, Lunar Resources, Novium, Aegis, and Axiom Space.
“As a space-grant institution, Texas A&M has a long history of conducting world-class research and technological innovation in space exploration,” said General (Ret.) Mark A. Welsh lll, president of Texas A&M University in a news release. “This announcement not only acknowledges that Texas A&M is at the vanguard of space science and engineering, but it also emphasizes the exceptional quality of our world-class faculty. We are grateful to the U.S. Space Force for providing us with the opportunity to continue our work in this vital domain."
Click here to read the full release on the Texas A&M University System website.
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