The state of Texas is more state-of-the-art than ever with the growing importance of the Texas Space Commission, which is now getting a new laboratory.

The Commission is granting $9.3 million to the University of Texas at Austin to build a research lab as part of the state's growing involvment in the space exploration industry.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been headquartered in Texas for more than 60 years, SpaceX is headquartered here, so it's natural Texas has its own Space Commission.

At Nasawatch.com, Keith Cowing notes that "other states have these governmental or quasi-governmental agencies that are designed to further the investment in space of all types, whether it's military, civilian, monitoring weather from space, launching rockets, whatever it might be."

"So that's what the Commission does in Texas, but it's got a lot more money than most of those other states, and it seems to be willing to put its money where its mouth is."

"Used to be, any with money related to space came from NASA, but this grant is unusual, this $9.3 million, and apparently it's not the last of the money the state's going to put to this end," he says.

And he says the planned research lab will be a real asset for the state -- it'll be a way to address "space domain awareness challenges," allowing much closer tracking of satellites and other objects in space.

"You're making sure you fully understand what's in space, what's going into space, what and where America's stuff might be, where everybody else's stuff might be, and the information will all be right here."

The Commission is a state agency founded by Governor Greg Abbott with appropriations from the state legislature on March 26th, 2024, and the agency maintains the Space Exploration and Aeronautics Research Fund, from which $150 million is being offered up as an investment tool using grants to fund projects.

About $135 million of that money has already been granted

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