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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, March 28, 2008

UH-Hilo, Colorado School of Mines plan joint space research

Associated Press

HILO, Hawai'i — The University of Hawai'i-Hilo and the Colorado School of Mines yesterday said they plan to jointly research ways to support human life in outer space.

"The number of Hawai'i students interested in space exploration is rapidly growing," UH-Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng said in a statement. "We welcome the opportunity to be a part of information and education exchanges like this one."

UH-Hilo is home to a center dedicated to developing technologies that will enable humans to sustain life on another plant.

The Colorado school has a research center that focuses on how the natural resources of space can meet human survival needs on the moon and Mars.

Tseng and School of Mines President Bill Scoggins expect to sign an agreement on April 4 that will establish their partnership.

Angel Abbud-Madrid, director of the Colorado School of Mines Center for Space Resources, said the partnership is perfect for her center's students, who already work with Lockheed Martin on equipment designed to produce oxygen from lunar rocks and soil.

Mines students also have been involved in developing a special membrane that will one day help astronauts make methane fuel on Mars for their return flight to Earth.

UH-Hilo's Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems was established last year with the help of state government money.

The center plans to build a simulated lunar outpost on the Big Island, where the ash and rock surface resembles the surface of the moon.

The center has research agreements with NASA to test remotely controlled rover vehicles. Its labs hope to serve space agencies, commercial partners and entrepreneurs.