The Universities Space Research Association and government-industry-university partnerships

The Universities Space Research Association (USRA) is a private nonprofit Association of 83 universities. USRA is chartered to provide a mechanism through which universities can cooperate with one another, with the government, and with other organizations to further space science and technology and to promote space-related education, including public outreach. In this paper, we outline six projects that represent the variety of mechanisms for government-industry-university partnerships provided by USRA.