PISCES Projects and Accomplishments-
Projects
In addition to the Student Design Competition, which is described on the "Competitions” page, the following projects were operational at PISCES as of January 2008:
Lunar Analog Field Demonstrations of In-Situ Resource Utilization & Human Robotic Systems
NASA Co-Investigators: William E. Larson, KSC; Gerald B. Sanders & Robert O. Ambrose, JSC
NASA Organization Supported: Exploration Systems Mission Directorate
Other Partners: Canadian Space Agency, NORCAT, Carnegie Mellon University
Concept:
- Utilize Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES) volcanic sites in Hawaii to perform lunar analog testing of NASA ISRU-related hardware, software, and operations
- PISCES to prepare and provide both analog site and infrastructure to support 1 to 2 week field demonstrations
- Utilize NASA understanding and expertise of future lunar robotic and human exploration missions to support development of PISCES analog site(s) and student involvement activities
- Establish procedures to select test locations, dates, infrastructure, and costing to ensure demonstrations on a timely and flexible basis
- Establish potential long-term needs and activities for PISCES planning and development
- NASA perform at least one with a goal of two field demonstrations utilizing technologies and hardware develop under the Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) to drive process and demonstrate analogy and infrastructure capabilities and support
- NASA support at least one PISCES student activity
- Invite the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to participate and develop relationship and data exchange protocols that will make future flight project collaboration easier
Low-Temperature, Long-Life, Compliant Wheels for the Lunar Surface and Beyond
NASA Principal Investigator: Jaret Matthews, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
NASA Organizations Supported: Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and Science Mission Directorate
Other Partners: Michelin Americas Research and Development Corp., Clemson University, Carnegie Mellon University
Accomplishments (June 2007 to date)
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November-December 2006: Proposal Written and Submitted through DBEDT to Hawai’i State Legislature
January 2007: PISCES National Student Design Competition Launched
January-April 2007: SB907 Passes without a Single Negative Vote - $400K for PISCES - Governor Lingle Signs into Law June 7, 2007
August 2007: First PISCES Student Design Winners Selected
July-August 2007: Three Proposals Written to NASA Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP): 1) ISRU with JSC/KSC, 2) Robotic Tests with ARC, 3) “TWEEL” Tests with JPL.
August 2007: Proposal Written to NASA’s Lunar Advanced Science and Exploration Research (LASER) Program: “Advanced Materials Research at a Lunar Outpost”
August 2007: Interviews with Local Business, Civic, Government, Education, Cultural Leaders – Much Support for PISCES
September 2007: Space Science Course Created at UHH – First Offering Spring Semester 2008
October 2007: Two awards received from NASA for work at and with PISCES - $640K total.
September-October 2007: PISCES Video Produced
November 2006-October 2007: Eleven PISCES Papers/Presentations given at professional conferences around the world (STAIF, JAXA, JAMMS, Tokyo Tech, LPSC, NASA Ames, AIAA, IAC, LEAG, SRR)
November 7-10, 2007: Inaugural PISCES Conference, Naniloa Volcanoes Resort, Hilo, HI: Attended by ~100 space professionals from industry, academia and government, and by local business, educational, civic and cultural leaders; keynote address by Lieutenant Governor Aiona. First PISCES Student Design Awards presented: winners were Honolulu Community College (first place), Colorado School of Mines and University of Colorado.
January 2008: Second Student Design Competition launched.
January 2008: First meeting of the PISCES Cultural Advisory Council held.
January – April 2008: First PISCES course, ASTR 394 Special Topics in Space Science: An Introduction to Space Exploration, taught to a full class of 20 UHH students.
April 2008: Memorandum of Agreement signed between UHH and Colorado School of Mines for cooperation in space research, particularly in-situ resource utilization.
June 2008: PISCES 10-Year Strategic Plan delivered to DBEDT and Hawai`i State Legislature in fulfillment of requirements of first-year funding.
August 2008: Major proposal submitted to become a node of the NASA Lunar Science Institute.
September 2008: PISCES Field Test Site selected at Haiwahini Craters at the 9300-ft. level of Mauna Kea.
November 2008: First field tests and demonstrations held at PISCES Test Site, involving teams from NASA-KSC, NASA-JSC, NASA-JPL, the Northern Research Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT), the Canadian Space Agency, the German Space Agency, Lockheed-Martin and others. These projects resulted in the first pilot-scale demonstrations of the production of water and oxygen from the lunar-like soil on the Big Island and the successful tests of the Michelin “Tweel” on the Carnegie-Mellon “Scarab” rover. The projects received wide publicity in the local and national media and were coupled with outreach events to local K-12 schools, reaching over 1000 students and hundreds more people from the general public at a major event at `Imiloa.
November 2008: Second annual PISCES conference held at Hilton Waikoloa Village hotel. Student Design Award winners were MIT and Virginia Tech.
January 2009: Third Student Design Competition launched.
January 2009: Proposals submitted to NASA’s Steckler Space Grant program and NASA’s Moon and Mars Analog Mission Activities (MMAMA) program.
Current Cooperative Activities:
- UH Hilo College of Agriculture: Dean of the College is collaborating with PISCES on NLSI and other proposals.
- UH-Manoa: Proposal on virtual reality, led by faculty member at UH-Manoa, includes PISCES. Proposal to Steckler Space Grant program went through Hawai`i Space Grant Consortium.
- University of Houston: Director of Texas Advanced Materials Center is collaborating with PISCES on NLSI and other proposals.
- Industry: A number of U.S. and Japanese companies served on panels during the PISCES sessions at the PISCES-JUSTSAP Symposium. Two companies, Paragon Space Systems, Inc., and Japan Advanced Manned Space Systems, worked on proposals with PISCES.
- International: Canadian and German groups participated in tests at PISCES in conjunction with NASA in November 2008.
- `Imiloa: Proposal submitted to NASA’s Education Division for displays, planetarium shows and informal education relating space exploration to ancient Polynesian voyaging. Planning underway for 2009 PISCES Workshop to be held at `Imiloa
- Institute for Astronomy: PISCES and IfA have agreed on use of IfA facilities (offices, laboratories, shops and high-bay area) for sponsored projects at PISCES.