According to Dr. Kenith Meissner, dean of the UTEP Department of Engineering, “UTEP is a national leader in additive manufacturing for space applications.” “I commend the UTEP research team for their significant contribution. I have no doubt that what they do will significantly advance this endeavor and bring us one step closer to returning to the moon and making our first journeys into space.This grant is a portion of a $2.5 million one from NASA to explore ways to exploit resources from other planets so that future astronauts won’t always need to return to Earth for supplies. This will not only assist in building the infrastructure required for such crewed trips, but it will also lower the cost and weight of delivering supplies from Earth.