NASA chooses Purdue as site for new space habitats institute

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - NASA has chosen Purdue University as the site of a new research institute that will design deep space habitats for humans.

The Resilient ExtraTerrestrial Habitats institute, or RETHi, will be located in West Lafayette, and is set to receive as much as $15 million over five years from the space agency.

The new institute is a partnership with the University of Connecticut, Harvard University and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

NASA says RETHi will be led by Purdue engineering professor Shirley Dyke, who says it will help shape "smart space habitats."

The institute aims to design and operate resilient deep space habitats that can adapt and quickly recover from unexpected disruptions. The goal is to develop "mature space habitats" that can operate in both crewed and un-crewed configurations.