Four Florida universities have partnered to establish the Center for Science, Technology, and Advanced Research in Space to advance space manufacturing and support the state’s space economy through research and workforce development.

Four Florida universities announced a collaborative partnership this month to establish the Center for Science, Technology, and Advanced Research in Space (C-STARS), aimed at advancing space manufacturing and supporting the state’s space economy.

Including Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech), the University of Florida (UF), Florida A&M University (FAMU), and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, C-STARS will focus on developing medicines, electronics, and bioenergy systems in space. The center will also lead workforce development programs to train specialists in space technologies, sciences, and exploration.

Supported by an $80,000 planning grant from the National Science Foundation, C-STARS will address the demand for in-space manufacturing technology driven by private-sector investment and competition. The center aims to bring together academic researchers and industry partners to explore and enhance space manufacturing technologies.

“C-STARS leverages expertise from many areas of the university, and our proximity to the Kennedy Space Center, to the benefit of the many current and future space entities, public and private, who want to get their technologies to low Earth orbit and beyond,” said Dr. Rob Ferl, assistant vice president for UF Research and director of the Astraeus Space Institute.

C-STARS will focus on six key areas: cell and tissue tools, bioenergy systems, advanced material electronics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, lab-on-a-chip systems, and recycling and sustainability. Florida Tech will work on cell harvesting, disease modeling, CubeSat systems, real-time biomonitoring, and autonomous bioprinting.

Faculty members from Florida Tech, including biomedical engineering professor Kunal Mitra, chemical engineering associate professor James Brenner, and astrobiology expert Andrew Palmer, will contribute to the initiative. They have developed courses to support the effort, providing students with practical skills in space-based biomedical engineering applications.

“C-STARS is a multidisciplinary hub that will support and serve the rapidly growing sector of space manufacturing,” Mitra said. “It will bring academic researchers from the four Florida universities together with spaceflight providers to help industries transition to the space manufacturing sector and improve the production of unique medicines, therapeutics, electronics and materials that can benefit the people of Earth.”

According to a prepared release, more than 50 aerospace, government, and industry partners have expressed interest in collaborating with C-STARS. As C-STARS progresses, it will explore agricultural practices for long-duration space missions and study how microgravity affects plant growth and development, with implications for sustaining life in extraterrestrial environments.

Florida’s space industry features 17,000 space-related companies, with nearly 70 percent of U.S. orbital launches occurring at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral.