Texas A&M University is developing a $200 million research complex near NASA Johnson Space Center designed to help scientists and engineers prepare for future missions to the Moon and Mars.
The Texas A&M Space Institute will be built on roughly 32 acres near the entrance to the NASA campus in Houston and is expected to open in 2026. University officials say the four-story facility will bring together researchers, students, private aerospace companies and government agencies to collaborate on space exploration technologies.
One of the institute’s most distinctive features will be large indoor simulation environments that replicate the terrain and conditions of the Moon and Mars. The climate-controlled testing areas will allow scientists to experiment with lunar rovers, robotic vehicles and astronaut mission scenarios year-round.
The facility will also house robotics and engineering laboratories, classrooms, offices and industrial-scale testing spaces where researchers can assemble and evaluate spacecraft equipment.
Officials say the project is intended to strengthen Houston’s role as a center of human spaceflight and innovation. Several aerospace companies are expected to partner with the institute, including Houston-based Intuitive Machines, which develops lunar landers for NASA missions.
The institute will be the first major development in NASA’s planned Exploration Park, a 240-acre area designed to attract private aerospace companies and research institutions next to the space agency’s Houston campus.
University leaders say the collaboration between academia, industry and NASA will help accelerate technologies needed for future exploration, including missions under NASA’s Artemis program aimed at returning astronauts to the Moon and eventually sending humans to Mars.
Once completed, the institute is expected to serve as a hub for space research, workforce training and commercial partnerships, further expanding Texas’ growing role in the global space industry.