UNLV getting $5 million to develop space exploration technology

By Ian Whitaker

Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016 | 3:35 p.m.

UNLV is set to receive up to $5 million to help develop space exploration technology, the university announced today.

The deal between the university’s Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin will last five years, UNLV said in a statement.

During that time, the company will pay faculty and students to work on Lockheed Martin’s space exploration projects as well as on NASA’s Orion spacecraft, designed to carry astronauts on faraway missions to asteroids and Mars.

UNLV has previously collaborated on space-related projects with notable firms Arcata Associates and Teledyne Brown Engineering. The specific projects UNLV will be working on with Lockheed Martin will be determined at a later date, a college spokesperson said.

“This partnership will provide unique opportunities for our students to enhance their knowledge and research capabilities in exciting new areas and help accelerate the efforts of Lockheed Martin research activities and the nation’s ambitious space program,” engineering college Dean Rama Venkat said in a statement.

The announcement comes on the same day that President Barack Obama vowed to put humans on Mars by the 2030s.

Much of that goal, he said, hinges on private contractors working to develop technologies central to the mission. About 1,000 companies are involved in developing technology related to space exploration, according to the president.