ASU’s NewSpace initiative is giving academia and industry opportunities to forge partnerships to pursue advances in space exploration. Among the ASU researchers involved is mechanical engineer and Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Sze Zheng Yong. NewSpace helped Yong learn about the process of seeking NASA funding for research projects. That helped Yong earn a 2020 Early Career Faculty Space Tech Research Grant to develop an algorithm designed to coordinate robots that are physically tethered together to navigate challenging terrain. He is now working with an aerospace company to see if this type of robotic system could aid future space missions by making it possible to more adeptly navigate and explore other planets.