The SETI Institute and the Maldives Space Research Organisation (MSRO) will collaborate on astronomy research, space science education and public outreach. This initiative, established through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), provides a framework for projects that combine cutting-edge scientific research with the rich cultural heritage of Maldivian celestial navigation.  

The collaboration began during the 2024 Space for Island Nations Conference (SIN2024), where the SETI Institute first learned about MSRO’s efforts to engage students and the public in astronomy. MSRO recently acquired a Unistellar telescope to provide students and tourists with hands-on experience in astronomy. Additionally, they published a cultural star map highlighting significant constellations and patterns based on ancestral Maldivian navigation traditions.

“We saw the incredible work MSRO was doing at SIN2024, inspiring this exciting collaboration,” said Dr. Franck Marchis, Director of Citizen Science at the SETI Institute and Chief Science Officer at Unistellar. “The Maldives, with its unique location and cultural connection to the stars, is an ideal place to develop new astronomy initiatives. We look forward to working with MSRO to bring science and traditional Maldivian wisdom together."

The FAU Center for Connected Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence (CA-AI) has received a $799,759 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a state-of-the-art platform for testing and evaluating connected AI autonomous systems. The funding positions FAU as a national leader in this field and one of the first institutions to host a high-end NVIDIA GPU infrastructure for AI-driven autonomy research.