WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - NASA has chosen Purdue University's West Lafayette campus as the site of it's new Resilient ExtraTerrestrial Habitats institute (RETHi). The institute will get $15 million over a five-year period from NASA.

RETHi will be tasked with designing and operating deep space habitats. It will look to create habitats that can be operated with staffed crews or without humans. Purdue Mechanical and Civil Engineering professor Shirley Dyke will lead the new research institute.

Illustration of the interior of a deep space habitat. Credits: NASA Illustration of the interior of a deep space habitat. Credits: NASA

“This is an exciting opportunity for the RETHi research team to play a role in shaping the future smart space habitats,” Dyke said. “Developing resilient space habitats continues Purdue’s legacy of leadership and collaboration in science, engineering and space exploration.”

According to a news release, the institute aligns with a theme of Purdue’s Giant Leaps celebration, “Space: Earth, Exploration, Economics,” acknowledging the university’s global advancements made as part of Purdue’s 150th anniversary. This is one of the four themes of the yearlong celebration’s Ideas Festival, designed to showcase Purdue as an intellectual center solving real-world issues.

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