Three San Antonio-based research institutions are partnering to propel lunar exploration and construction with the goal of fulfilling NASA’s use of the moon for science, discovery and economic benefit while setting the stage for Mars exploration.
The proposal aims to bring the moon to San Antonio on a 180-acre swath of land owned by and adjacent to SwRI’s headquarters on the city’s West Side, a site that will be used to simulate the geography of the moon’s de Gerlache Ridge, a site between craters that can offer a prime landing location for NASA.
It will also be “the footprint” of NASA’s Artemis Moon Base, which has a goal of maintaining a semi-permanent crew presence on the moon by 2032.
“NASA is committed to achieving the near‑impossible once again, to return to the Moon before the end of President Trump’s term, build a Moon base, establish an enduring presence, and do the other things needed to ensure American leadership in space,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in March.
Astroport founder and CEO Sam Ximenes said his space construction firm’s lunar civil engineering work for NASA has established “a clear engineering baseline for construction on the Moon.” The Port San Antonio-based company previously partnered with space robotics company Venturi Astrolab Inc. to build self-driving rovers that can move lunar soil to make landing sites, launch pads, berms and roads on the moon.
The new lunar initiative “will provide the infrastructure needed to rehearse these complex operations at scale, validating site preparation and infrastructure tools on Earth for safety and endurance before they are committed to a lunar manifest,” Ximenes said in a statement.
SwRI’s space business has grown rapidly in the past decade. It has added staff, tripled the number of researchers working in its Small Spacecraft Development program and built a $35 million, 74,000-square-foot space system integration facility. In 2022, SwRI created its Space Sector to better organize its work in the fast-growing industry. In 2023, it generated $200 million in revenue, a significant chunk of the institute’s $798 million total that year. In 2024, sector revenue was more than $223 million, according to previous reporting.
In 2025, SwRI reported its consolidated revenues hit a record high of $966 million and that the organization contributed more than $1.7 billion to San Antonio’s economy. SwRI also works with the University of Texas at San Antonio: The partnership has given graduate students access to world-class facilities, hands-on research opportunities and mentorship from leading scientists for over 20 years, according to UTSA.