David E. Steitz Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1730
david.steitz@nasa.gov
Ruth Marlaire
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-4789
ruth.marlaire@nasa.gov
Donalyn Dela Cruz
Office of the Governor, Honolulu
808-586-0012
donalyn.delacruz@hawaii.gov
RELEASE: 11-168
NASA AND HAWAII PARTNER FOR SPACE EXPLORATION
WASHINGTON -- NASA and Hawaii have agreed to collaborate on a wide
range of activities to promote America's human and robotic
exploration of space. The partnership also will contribute to the
development of education programs and foster economic opportunities
including new, high-tech jobs.
Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie and NASA Associate Deputy
Administrator Rebecca Keiser signed a two-year non-reimbursable Space
Act Agreement Annex during a ceremony today in Honolulu. The ceremony
was held on the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's
historic announcement committing the country to land an American on
the moon and return him safely before the end of the decade.
"Hawaii has been part of America's space activities from the beginning
of the space program when Apollo astronauts trained in the islands
for their historic missions to the moon," Abercrombie said. "This
partnership with NASA will broaden educational and employment
opportunities for our local families and bring dollars into our
economy."
The annex establishes a partnership between NASA's Ames Research
Center at Moffett Field, Calif., and Hawaii to explore and test new
technologies, capabilities and strategies supporting America's space
exploration and development goals.
Under the agreement, Hawaii is proposing to explore development of a
ground-based international lunar effort. It would use the state's
unique moon/Mars analog terrain to enable development and testing of
advanced automated and tele-robotic vehicles. Researchers would
benefit from Hawaii's natural geography to study in-situ resource
use, advanced communications, power generation and other technologies
required for exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
"This type of participatory exploration is becoming an increasingly
important component of the 21st century space program," Keiser said.
"Americans want to participate directly and personally in space
activities. As we have seen from NASA's Commercial Orbital
Transportation Services project and the Centennial Challenges prize
competitions, harvesting the country's innovative talent is important
to the success of our future endeavors in space. The space frontier
is opening in novel and exciting ways."
Hawaii will provide the prototype test environment and infrastructure
for the proposed analog test facilities. NASA will evaluate new
concepts and models for conducting space exploration. Hawaii will
explore the potential to develop and mature innovative space-related
technologies for educational, industry and government use.
"From NASA's perspective, this partnership can inspire ideas and
applications from analog test sites that can be generalized to space
exploration and development of the moon and other planetary bodies,"
said Ames Director Pete Worden.
Hawaii's Office of Aerospace Development will be the lead state agency
for the project, enhancing dialogue and coordination among the state,
private and academic partners to enable growth and diversification of
the state's aerospace economy.
"We support NASA's goal to promote public-private partnerships and
multinational alliances to help reduce the cost, enhance the
feasibility and accelerate the implementation of future space
missions - leading to settlements beyond low-Earth orbit," said Jim
Crisafulli, director of Hawaii's Office of Aerospace Development.
"Locally, this collaboration should catalyze Hawaii-based economic
innovation and engage engineers, scientists, educators, and students,
as well as commercial entrepreneurs, to increase the opportunities
and benefits of space exploration."
For more information about NASA Ames, visit:
For more information about Hawaii's aerospace initiatives, visit:
-end-
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