Xtronaut: UA-born Company Brings Space Exploration to Classrooms

TUCSON, Ariz. – The University of Arizona has announced an agreement with Xtronaut Enterprises, Inc.(link is external) to bring STEM-related educational and public outreach products related to the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission to classrooms everywhere. OSIRIS-REx(link is external) is a NASA mission led by the UA that will send a robotic spacecraft to asteroid Bennu and return a sample to Earth in 2023.

The agreement licenses educational content developed through UA’s work on the mission to Xtronaut Enterprises, allowing the company to use the material in education kits, traveling exhibits, merchandise and more. The licensing agreement between the UA and Xtronaut was facilitated by Tech Launch Arizona, the UA’s technology commercialization office.

Dante Lauretta, a UA professor and principal investigator on the OSIRIS-REx mission, started Xtronaut Enterprises with space entrepreneur Michael Lyon of Lyon Capital Services.

Through the work of Xtronaut Enterprises, educational materials developed around OSIRIS-REx content will allow students to experience the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math — by applying them in the context of an actual ongoing NASA space mission.

"We formed Xtronaut to develop an innovative and creative approach that provides everyone with a unique opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of OSIRIS-REx and its science over the mission’s 10-year duration," said Lauretta, a professor in the UA's Department of Planetary Sciences and Lunar and Planetary Lab. "Our goal is to generate added interest and relevance for the science behind space exploration, as we firmly believe that one of the greatest benefits of a mission like OSIRIS-REx is the ability to inspire people to further learn and engage in science, math and engineering. We want to share the experience and make it the public's mission."

"Xtronaut will help inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and explorers," said Xtronaut co-founder Lyon. "We plan to encourage interest and support for space exploration by expanding the notion of who is an explorer in today's world of robotic missions: not just the few fortunate enough to climb on a rocket, but to include all the people involved in exploration — scientists, engineers, educators, students and the public. Only a few can be astronauts, but we can all be Xtronauts."

In the near term, Xtronaut Enterprises will develop a small set of focused products. The first objective is to package and distribute educational kits that link STEM education products to the science and engineering associated with the OSIRIS-REx mission. The education kits will target classrooms and after-school programs. Xtronaut is also developing space-themed computer games. In the future, Xtronaut will develop asteroid-centric traveling and museum exhibits, as well as television productions.

Lauretta has been interested in education and learning opportunities related to the OSIRIS-REx mission for many years. He has been developing such teaching kits to support this vision, using them successfully with the Boys and Girls Clubs in Arizona. Lyon proved to be an ideal partner, given his experience at Space Adventures, a company where he organized the first tourist flights to the International Space Station and forged commercial partnerships in the space sector.

Lauretta and Lyon formed Xtronaut in response to budget reductions that eliminated the NASA-funded OSIRIS-REx Education and Public Outreach program.

"We want to get the public directly involved in the mission in a fashion that has not always been available in previous missions," Lauretta said. "If students can understand that there is a direct relationship between what they learn in the classroom and an actual mission of exploration, it can provide them with a pathway forward toward careers in science and engineering."

TLA Director of Technology Transfer Doug Hockstad said: "Xtronaut represents an exciting, new venture that aligns with TLA’s main objective of advancing knowledge and inventions developed at the university into the general public. We are excited about the educational and business initiatives of Xtronaut, and believe it will help enhance awareness of the OSIRIS-REx mission and also support STEM education programs at the national level."

The program has received strong support from Arizona educators. Manuel Valenzuela, superintendent of the Sahuarita Unified School District, said: "Everyone at SUSD is excited to help launch this program. Over the next year, we will work with Xtronaut to finalize their educational programs by providing peer review, focus groups and classroom testing of the education kits ahead of the program’s full launch in schools in August 2015. This endeavor is a great opportunity to connect our students to a real space mission, being led by a world-class university right down the road from our schools."