# NASA selects 12 institutions for $12 million in space technology awards

_Published Thursday, October 15, 2026 at 12:49 PM EDT · Science, Robotics · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

![An illustration of a suited Artemis astronaut looking out of a Moon lander hatch across the lunar surface, the Lunar Terrain Vehicle and other surface elements. — Primary](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/taking-in-the-view-surface-from-hls.webp)

NASA has selected 12 U.S. institutions to receive $12 million for academic research and technology development supporting Moon, Mars and deep-space exploration. Each institution will receive up to $1 million through the agency's M-STAR initiative.

The projects include multi-robot collaboration, autonomous path planning, propulsion hardware repair and extreme-environment batteries and fuel cells. The awards support scientific and engineering capabilities, faculty and student participation, and the institutions' ability to compete for future federal and commercial research funding.

## Sources

- [NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/nasa-awards-enable-research-technology-to-build-future-workforce/)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/gfHssULBJR_QGAGQFCFG_L
Published: 2026-10-15T16:49:44.041Z
Story chronology: 2026-10-15T15:57:47.000Z
Retrieved: 2026-10-15T20:19:38.147Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)