Gifts to Space & Earth Analogs Research Chapter (SEARCH) | ASTRO-USA: A Moon and Mars Base on Purdue’s Campus contribute to...
The Space & Earth Analogs Research Chapter (SEARCH) is a student-led organization at Purdue University focused on space exploration through hands-on research, engineering, and analog astronaut training. Founded in 2022, SEARCH brings together students across disciplines to develop technologies and skills for living beyond Earth. This includes habitat design, food production, water recycling, and life-support systems.
Our flagship project, ASTRO-USA, is creating a Moon and Mars analog base on Purdue’s campus where students can design and test habitat systems, grow food, and prepare for future exploration.
Through grants and university support, we have secured tens of thousands of dollars in ready-to-use research equipment. Our next step is bringing reliable electrical power to the habitat so students can put that equipment to work and begin conducting research.
Tens of thousands of dollars in equipment are ready. Your gift can power the habitat and launch research.
Donations will fund the electrical connection and installation needed to bring reliable power to the ASTRO-USA habitat. This will allow us to operate tens of thousands of dollars in equipment we have already secured, including systems for growing food, monitoring habitat conditions, and studying life-support technologies. By helping cover this essential infrastructure, donors will enable Purdue students to begin using that equipment for hands-on research supporting future Moon and Mars exploration.
Without sufficient funding, we will have to delay bringing power to the habitat, leaving tens of thousands of dollars' worth of research equipment unused. This would postpone experiments in food production and life-support systems, limit hands-on research opportunities for Purdue students, and slow progress toward an operational Moon and Mars analog base. Donations will help turn the equipment and work already invested in ASTRO-USA into active research.
Check out our habitat HERE!
