The Space Launch Initiative (SLI) was a NASA and U.S. Department of Defense joint research and technology project to determine the requirements to meet all the nation’s hypersonics, space launch and space technology needs. The program began with the award of reusable launch vehicle study contracts in 2000. California Poly Pomona's Professor Steven Dobbs was the Lead Systems Engineer on the project, making significant use of the program as an example for failed systems engineering.}}[citation needed]