Team Vision/Mission

Space exploration has entered a renaissance with humans reaching out to the edge of our Solar System and beyond and seeking to explore and develop the Earth-Moon system. The United States, through NASA and the Department of the Air Force, will continue to invest significantly in the human exploration of the Moon and Mars. NASA's human plans under the Artemis Program call for establishing a sustainable presence on the Moon by the end of the decade. With U.S. companies and international partners, NASA will uncover new scientific discoveries and lay the foundation for private companies to build an Earth-Moon space economy.

Our mission is to expand New Mexico's scientific, creative, and economic horizons beyond Earth through university, commercial, and national lab collaboration.

News & Events

UNM Space Day 2024

Planetary Sample Science Seminar Series (Fall 2024)

This seminar series on the study of materials from the Moon and other planetary bodies is hosted by CASA Moon, SSERVI, the Institute of Meteoritics, Luna and Planetary Institute, RASSLE (JHUAPL), and the Sustainable Space Research Grand Challenge team of UNM.

The seminars will take place on Wednesdays at 11AM Mountain Time (10AM Pacific, 12PM Central, and 1PM Eastern) from September 11 to December 4, 2024. 

Attend live at UNM Northrop 340 or via the virtual meeting online. View the full schedule. 

Chip Shearer makes guest appearance on St. Louis, MO radio program

Kerri Donaldson Hanna, principal investigator of the Moon mission Lunar Vise, and Dr. Chip Shearer, a geologist who's been studying lunar samples from the Moon for 40 years, join Debbie and Tom in the KMOX studio. They are in St. Louis as part of the NASA Solar System Exploration Virtual Institute (SSERVI)/ 2024 NASA Exploration Science Forum July 23-25, 2024.

UNM research professor wins prestigious award for planetary geology work - UNM News, 5/30/24

The Sustainable Space Research team provides Recruitment and Leadership awards to NASA MINDS team members - May 2024

UNM Grand Challenges Sustainable Space Research team connects statewide space community - UNM News, 5/9/24

UNM researchers send tomatoes to space - Daily Lobo, 2/5/24

UNM researchers team up with University of Wisconsin–Madison to send tomatoes into space - UNM News, 1/26/24

Shearer appears on Children's Hour radio program

Dr. Charles "Chip" Shearer was a guest on the Children’s Hour radio program answering questions about the exploration of the Moon and beyond with New Mexico students.  The Children’s Hour can be heard on KUNM locally, as well as on more than 150 stations in 6 countries and on demand as a weekly podcast.

New Views of the Moon 2 is now available online

Dr. Charles K. Shearer, one of the leads for SSRGC, played an important role in developing this book, serving as a member of the Science Organizing Committee. Shearer contributed his expertise as one of the book editors and lead author on one of the 19 chapters.

Past events

Call for pilot projects (CLOSED: July 29, 2024)

The Sustainable Space Research Grand Challenge (SSRGC) at the University of New Mexico (UNM) will support 5-10 Principal Investigators (PIs) with $5,000 pilot awards.

The SSRGC’s pilot project program aims to support projects that align with the SSRGC's strategic objectives of advancing space science and technology, promoting community engagement, and developing the New Mexico Space Economy. The SSRGC team is implementing a series of pilot project initiatives to encourage further research collaborations and projects. This program is designed to facilitate student involvement in space projects and gather preliminary results needed for more considerable external funding opportunities.

UNM faculty, research faculty, and research scientists are invited to submit proposals to apply for funding for research projects.

Application instructions

Sustainable Space Research Grand Challenge Workshop 

Monday, April 29, 8:30am-1:30pm 

UNM Student Union Building Acoma A&B

If you are interested in collaborating with others in the wide and growing field of space research and technology and would like to hear more about what is happening here in New Mexico, please register here. 

The workshop will begin with morning presentations by community members who are working in space-related research, commerce, arts and education, followed by smaller group discussions about how we can coordinate our efforts to further develop New Mexico into a center for space-science exploration and innovation excellence. 

Planetary Sample Science Seminar Series (Spring 2024)

This seminar series on the study of materials from the Moon and other planetary bodies was organized by the CASA Moon node of SSERVI and is sponsored by SSERVI, the Institute of Meteoritics of the University of New Mexico (UNM), and the Sustainable Space Research Grand Challenge team of UNM.

Lobo Living Room: Moon Exploration & Developing A Space Economy

Date: 1/24/2024
Time: 5:15 PM to 8:00 PM

Location: PAÍS Building, Room 1100

210 Yale Blvd NE
Albuquerque, NM 87106

Join Dr. Charles “Chip” Shearer as he presents about how space exploration has entered a renaissance with humans reaching out beyond the edge of our Solar System and seeking to explore the Moon and build an Earth-Moon space economy. 

Current Projects

Opportunities for you in the Sustainable Space Research Grand Challenge

1. Undergraduate support for group space related projects (Spring 2024) - Science, Engineering, Journalism, Education, Inspirational
2. Multidisciplinary Space Exploration Class (Fall 2024)
3. Sample Science Seminar Series (Spring 2024)
4. Participation in outreach to National Labs and Commercial Space
5. Coordination of multidisciplinary proposals to NASA

Research Questions

1. Develop a center of space science-exploration excellence on the UNM campuses by identifying and uniting relevant and diverse space expertise and maturing an appropriate research-technology infrastructure.                           
2. Use this multidisciplinary team to competitively seek space research and exploration funding.                                 
3. Partner with the national laboratories and private companies to build a New Mexico Space Economy.                         
4. Engage students from a variety of disciplines to develop a future work force and an entrepreneurial foundation for growing a Space Economy.                                                                   
5. Engage the citizens of New Mexico in educational outreach; communicate and coordinate space related activities with the State legislature and governor’s office.                                                           
6. By fulfilling goals 1-5, develop a New Mexico space economy that will benefit the citizens of New Mexico. 

Three areas of SSRGC focus

Our Team

Conveners
Charles Shearer, Senior Research Scientist III, Inst. Meteoritics, and Research Professor, Dept. Earth and Planetary Sciences
Maryam Hojati, Assistant Professor, Dept. Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering
Kristina Yu, Professor, School of Architecture + Planning