NASA Collaborates with Georgia Southern to Develop Deep-Space Technology

Seven years ago, Allen E. Paulson Distinguished Chair, Dr. Valentin Soloiu, began developing a project in line with NASA Space Program’s research forecasts that would give Allen E. Paulson engineering students the opportunity to participate in interplanetary research missions.

The results from years of research materialized in the selection of one of Dr. Soloiu’s projects for NASA’s very own Moon to Mars eXploration Systems and Habitation (M2M X-Hab) 2026 Academic Innovation Challenge. This unique opportunity allows just twelve selected universities to participate in creating a prototype designed for deep space, bringing a NASA vision to life.

To complete this challenge, Dr. Soloiu assembled a team of passionate and dedicated students to develop concepts that would ultimately pique NASA’s interest. “I selected students and trained them to understand the technical concepts to see who loves it and who wants to put in the work,” said Dr. Soloiu. “It’s not something that takes three weeks to work on and is ready to present to NASA.” Over the years, more than three generations of students have been selected to develop plans and research for deep-space technology suitable for missions in space.

“NASA has a vision to build a station on the Moon, and fly from the Moon to Mars,” Dr. Soloiu explained. By collaborating with universities, NASA fast-tracks the research process to begin developing the envisioned station. “NASA prepares with our ideas and uses the best concepts.”

Building a station on the Moon requires contributions from everyone involved. “This station will need a team to build the walls, a team to build the air conditioning… and a team that designs and builds the rovers? We do that one!” Dr. Soloiu said. The rover concept that Georgia Southern students designed is capable of moving autonomously on the Moon with its very own artificial intelligence system and self-charging capabilities. The prototype itself is set to be completed by the launch date of May 2026. 

Georgia Southern University is competing against schools such as the University of Michigan and Texas A&M. “We are in the big leagues, and we are the smallest university competing,”  Dr. Soloiu said. Despite being a less-resourced university, Dr. Soloiu believes it is what allows students to be empowered naturally. “We can achieve a great performance with less money. Under pressure, coal becomes diamonds; we make diamonds out of our students.”

Dr. Soloiu said it is not about winning, it is about being a part of the next frontier in space. “It’s a dream to be the team that places first nationally, Georgia Southern, a university in the middle of nowhere, but why focus on that? We are already on a team with NASA!”

The Students Behind the Georgia Southern University Rover

“You hear NASA, you think, ‘Oh, that’s something I could never do,’ but Dr. Soloiu gave us that outstanding opportunity. You know, it’s a big dream for most people. Being able to work with NASA is an honor. It’s strengthened my ability to multitask really well and focus on details, and it really hones your leadership skills being a team leader. And seeing what we built work… seeing that it’s actually coming together exactly how you planned. It’s amazing.” —Katie Brown, Georgia Southern Rover Team Lead.

“We’ve never gotten a project like it. It’s something that I’ve been working on for the past two, three years with Dr. Soloiu, and I’m getting more confident in my abilities as an engineer. [The project made me] more confident, more confident as not only an engineer, but also as a potential leader. It gives me more confidence that I could actually go out into the industry to perform well. It’s nice to be able to say, ‘I helped to get this off the ground.’” —Timothy Sutton, Georgia Southern Intelligent Navigation and Graduate Lead.

“It means a great opportunity to get involved in something bigger than myself, to learn technologies I haven’t really gotten a hold of before, and being able to lead a great team to make a great product.” —Bryan Acosta, Georgia Southern Navigation Sub Team Lead.

“It really helped me solidify the idea that I can be an engineer. As a woman, I know my strengths, and I’m very confident in them, but being surrounded by a ton of men in the field, you kind of start looking inward and going, ‘Oh, like, I really gotta be good at what I do.’ So it’s definitely solidified the fact that I feel very comfortable where I’m at. I feel skilled. I feel like I can be a good asset in this field, in this industry.” —Abigeal McCarthy, Georgia Southern Project Manager.

“It’s been really rewarding to work with this team and see how they progress and go from design concept to design concept and seeing how we adapt and how we work together to accomplish the mission.” —Stephen Nicholas, Georgia Southern Charging Station Sub Team Lead.