Gov. Neil Abercrombie will sign a bill today intended to make the Big Island a center for companies and space agencies working to make the moon habitable, a feat long left to the realm of science fiction but coming closer
Gov. Neil Abercrombie will sign a bill today intended to make the Big Island a center for companies and space agencies working to make the moon habitable, a feat long left to the realm of science fiction but coming closer to reality.
The legislation authorizes the creation of a research park, overseen by the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, that will develop and test technology needed to allow people to live on the lunar surface, at least temporarily.
That includes figuring out how to make the most out of the moon’s resources, a focus of a NASA program that will return to the island next month for additional testing.
The goal of the RESOLVE program, which PISCES participates in, is to create oxygen and rocket fuel by melting moon rocks.
Previous tests in 2008 and 2010 were successful, and the tests that will occur in late July on the slopes of Mauna Kea will be its last, said John Hamilton, PISCES deputy director.
A mission to the moon with the technology would be next, possibly as early as 2014, he said.
But making such a hostile environment people friendly goes beyond creating oxygen or fuel.
Waste needs to be managed, food needs to be grown, water needs to be extracted — all of which without the reliance of supplies from Earth.
That’s where the research park comes in.
The idea is that private business and government space programs from all nations can work there together to develop and test the Space Age technology needed to colonize the moon.
