The robots that will one day roam Mars are starting to take shape — and some of them are being designed in the Houston area. Two local companies have won awards under NASA's new STRIDE initiative to develop the mobility systems that future Mars missions will use to cross the planet's surface and reach places today's rovers can't.

What STRIDE Is

STRIDE — Science Transport and Robotic Innovation for Deployment and Exploration — is a roughly $17 million NASA program aimed at a specific, hard problem: getting around on Mars. NASA solicited proposals in January 2026 and selected seven companies to develop "innovative mobility systems" that let missions access challenging terrain, reach hard-to-get-to regions, and traverse greater distances across the Martian surface. Work is expected to begin in fall 2026.

Mobility is one of the quiet bottlenecks of planetary exploration. Rovers like Perseverance are extraordinary machines, but they move slowly and can't safely reach steep, rocky, or otherwise hazardous terrain — which is often exactly where the most interesting science is. STRIDE is a bet on the next generation of surface robots that can go farther and reach more.

The Houston Winners

Two of the seven selected companies are based in the Houston area:

Intuitive Machines — the Houston Spaceport-based lunar company, fresh off a $148 million NASA award for Moon-base lander work — is now extending its robotics ambitions from the Moon to Mars. It's a notable stacking of wins for a company betting on mass-producing space robotics hardware.

Aegis Aerospace — based in Webster, Texas (and operating from the former MEI Technologies) — is the name to know here. A woman-owned space and technology company formed in 2021 through the merger of Alpha Space and MEI Technologies, Aegis develops and operates lunar surface systems, small satellites, and ISS and spaceflight payloads, and offers a "Space Testing as a Service" platform. Its selection for STRIDE puts a Webster company directly into the effort to build Mars surface mobility.

NASA did not disclose the individual award amounts, only that the two were among the first to receive STRIDE funding. The other selected companies span the space-robotics field: AeroVironment, Astrobotic, Venturi Astrolab, Ground Control Robotics, and Honeybee Robotics — the last of which also has a Houston footprint in our directory.

Why It Matters for Houston

Houston's identity in space is usually tied to human spaceflight and Mission Control. STRIDE is a reminder that the region is also building the robots of deep-space exploration — the autonomous machines that go where humans can't yet follow. Between Intuitive Machines' lunar landers, Aegis Aerospace's surface systems, and the deep robotics bench at NASA's Johnson Space Center, the Houston area is quietly assembling real expertise in planetary-surface robotics — the kind of capability that matters as NASA looks past the Moon toward Mars. Explore more of the region's space and robotics companies in our directory.

Reporting based on coverage by InnovationMap. Original story: innovationmap.