Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy, Inc.
Tucson, AZ Doing business as Aura
- UEI
- LFDKLGTB62C4
- CAGE
- 8X292
- Primary NAICS
- 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)
- SAM.gov registration
- Expired
Company facts
- FY2025 rankings
- Self-certified in SAM.gov
- Entity structure
- Corporate Entity (Tax Exempt)
- Corporate family
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- Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy, Inc. L7C5CB8BTXQ7
- Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy, Inc. Z2ABYMZ22CE2
- Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy, Inc. · Baltimore, MD W1NBN156CYF9
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- SAM.gov registration date
- Physical address
- 950 N Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Website
- aura-astronomy.org
- Founded
- 1957
- Employees
- 51-250
- Estimated annual revenue
- $10M-$50M
- Industry
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- Industrials
- Capital Goods
- Aerospace & Defense
- SIC code
- 96 Administration of Economic Programs
- Profiles
Registration and certifications come from SAM.gov and the SBA; company details from public web sources. Updated .
Contract obligations
Most of Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy, Inc.'s contract dollars go to its subsidiaries: $73.7 million across 1 awardee in NAICS 333314 in FY2025.
Contract awards
Latest 5 listed here. See the rest on GovTribe.
Contract subawards
| Prime contractor | Prime award | Amount | Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Research Institute | 80GSFC26C0026 | $62,965 |
Grant awards
Latest 5 listed here. See the rest on GovTribe.
Grant subawards
| Prime recipient | Prime award | Amount | Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| The University Of Alabama In Huntsville | 2149771 | $51,110 | |
| University Of Illinois | 2432428 | $347,491 | |
| University Of Missouri System | 2433781 | $104,420 | |
| The Regents Of The University Of Colorado | 80NSSC19K0995 | -$19,917 | |
| The Leland Stanford Junior University | 80NSSC22M0162 | $29,774 |
Latest 5 listed here. See the rest on GovTribe.
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About the company
Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy, Inc. (doing business as Aura) operates as a tax-exempt nonprofit consortium of universities that manages and operates major ground-based and space observatories for federal agencies as a prime recipient of federal grants and prime contractor on purchase orders and cooperative agreements, with 96% of its federal footprint as prime awards. Aura does not compete under set-aside designations; all awards carry full-and-open or sole-source procurement.
Aura's federal grant and contract portfolio concentrates heavily on observatory operations, astronomical research infrastructure, and heliophysics and space weather science. As a prime recipient, Aura executes cooperative agreements and project grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA to manage and operate major facilities including the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NSF's NOIRLAB), which encompasses the International Gemini Observatory, Kitt Peak National Observatory, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Vera C. Rubin Observatory, and the Community Science and Data Center. A representative cooperative agreement from NSF awarded on October 1, 2025, carries $19.041 million (CFDA 47.049, Mathematical and Physical Sciences) for design of a Next Generation Ground-Based Solar Observing Network (NGGONG-Design), with performance in Boulder, Colorado through September 30, 2028. Aura also executes research grants in heliophysics and solar physics; a $523,995 NASA grant from April 2023 supports subsurface flow analysis and magnetic flux transport modeling for solar cycle prediction. On the contract side, the U.S. Naval Observatory awarded Aura a $285,382 purchase order on July 24, 2025, for Deep South Telescope support services at Cerro Tololo in Chile, scheduled for completion by July 25, 2026. Aura also holds a sole-source purchase order (N0001487K0151) from the Naval Observatory for routine Deep South Telescope operations.
Customer concentration is highly skewed toward research agencies. NASA's Shared Services Center leads by award count and dollars, accounting for 71 awards with $8.6 million in combined potential value, followed by NSF with 73 awards across NSF proper and the Division of Astronomical Sciences. The Department of the Navy's Naval Observatory represents the largest defense customer, with 5 awards and $825 thousand in combined potential value. The source data covers 16 distinct customer agencies, but the top five by combined potential value account for 98% of the total. Activity has been stable to declining over the recent period: ten awards in 2022, seven in 2023, eleven in 2024, eight in 2025, and one in the first two months of 2026. Eighteen awards (combined potential value $677 thousand) reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and face potential recompete exposure.
Aura's subcontractor footprint is minimal—only 4% of awards carry a sub role. Named sub awards include a July 2026 sub-award to Southwest Research Institute for the Space Weather Geostationary Photospheric Magnetograph Imager Phase A Study, and several grant sub-awards to universities including the University of Alabama in Huntsville, University of Illinois, University of Missouri System, and Stanford University for collaborative research in helioseismology, space weather modeling, and mission data architecture.
The vendor's primary NAICS categories reflect its observatory-operations and research focus: Lessors of Other Real Estate Property (6 awards, likely tied to facility management), All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (4 awards), and Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (3 awards). The dominant PSC category is R&D–Space: Science/Applications (Basic Research), accounting for 31 awards. The combined dollars obligated across all awards ($2.9 billion) substantially exceeds the combined potential value ($10.7 million), reflecting long-term multi-year cooperative agreements where the source reports cumulative obligations rather than ceiling values for ongoing operations. Aura is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, with performance distributed across observatory sites in Chile, Hawaii, Arizona, Colorado, and internationally.
Quick answers
Is Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy, Inc. registered in SAM.gov?
Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy, Inc.'s SAM.gov registration expired on August 14, 2026.
How does Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy, Inc. rank among federal contractors?
Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy, Inc. ranked #2 in NAICS 333314, #2 in PSC AR21 and #6 in NAICS 3333 in FY2025.
What is Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy, Inc.'s most recent federal award?
Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy, Inc.'s most recent federal grant award is Research infrastructure: mid-scale RI-1 (M1:DA): design of a next generation ground based solar observing network… (2535601), from Division of Astronomical Sciences, on October 1, 2025.
On GovTribe
See Association Of Universities For Research In Astronomy, Inc.'s full federal record
- Federal contract awards
- IDV awards
- Federal grant awards
- Subcontracting relationships
- Funding analysis by agency, NAICS and set-aside
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