Every few years, NASA creates Space Technology Research Institutes (STRI) in areas it believes are going to be strategic for future technology and space missions.

UCLA Samueli School of Engineering professor Richard Wirz, a veteran researcher in space propulsion technologies, is leading the modeling and integration team for a recently established five-year,

University of Michigan engineers play major roles in a new $15 million 

The Joint Advanced Propulsion Institute (JANUS) is a newly established university-led NASA Space Technology Research Institute.