MAYAGÜEZ, Puerto Rico, Oct. 28, 2026 - A student engineering team from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez has won a $50,000 grant for its PRINCE reusable lunar infrastructure tower system, and NASA has opened formal discussions to collaborate on the technology.^[1] The PRINCE project is designed to construct permanent surface towers on the Moon, with the stated goal of reducing costs for future lunar missions. The system was developed over approximately six months by the multidisciplinary student team.^[2] Technical specialists from NASA have contacted the team to explore testing and formal partnership on the technology.^[3][4] Impact Insight. Permanent surface infrastructure is a core unmet requirement for sustained human operation on the Moon. Reliable, low mass construction methods will be needed for communications towers, power supports and landing pads for all planned lunar missions through the 2030s. Student developed systems expand the pool of viable engineering approaches available to space agencies for upcoming surface programs. The link to planetary defense is indirect: building on the Moon is part of the wider capability to operate, and respond, far beyond Earth.