CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — With an eye on Florida’s space future, NASA has partnered with three universities as it works to advance space research.

What You Need To Know

  • Nearly 29% of NASA's current workforce comes from the University of Central Florida

  • To keep the Central Florida pipeline going, NASA is working with three universities in the state

  • Officials say they hope to continue to expand the presence of NASA in Florida

The University of Florida, University of Central Florida and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University are now working with the Kennedy Space Center in the new Florida University Space Research Consortium.

It makes Florida the only state consortium affiliated with one of NASA’s centers.

The alliance will be supported by Space Florida, which will facilitate collaboration on projects between the consortium and NASA.

The new partnership is touted as combining the strengths of the top space technology educational institutions to enhance research capabilities and maintain Florida as a top leader in the ever-growing and changing space economy.

Officials say the goal of the partnership is to provide unique opportunities for Florida students and researchers to join forces on scientific projects.

UCF President Dr. Alexander Cartwright said 29% of the Kennedy Space Center workforce are UCF grads, so continuing to bring students into technology careers through the new consortium makes sense.

“We were founded to be the workforce for the Space Coast, and we take that very seriously," Cartwright said. "And we continue to be a partner with them, developing programs, getting them the degrees that they need. We produce such a large number of engineers, that they hire a lot of those people."

Leaders at NASA say they want more state universities to join the consortium in the near future.

During Wednesday's remarks about the Space Coast gaining momentum, Gov. Ron DeSantis also floated the idea of relocating NASA’s headquarters from Washington D.C. to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

He referenced a new NASA administrator taking over, and the massive footprint for the space industry in Florida when talking about the possibility.