Hawaii and the Final Frontier

Space exploration is no longer defined solely by what NASA is doing, but rather by what an ever-widening number of agencies and countries are doing. The definition of space exploration is being decentralized and internationalized.

This is potentially good news for Hawaii, provided we understand and act on the available opportunities.

One current effort, is in the conceptual stage. It’s called the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES). The goal of PISCES is to capitalize on Hawaii’s unique resources for the purpose of flight training, robotics, sophisticated engineering, unmanned flight, etc.

Hawaii has a competitive advantage for fielding an astronaut training program, as indicated by earlier-day NASA training of U.S. astronauts in Hawaii for moon-walking. The lava slopes of the Big Island are indeed much like the moon or, for that matter, Mars.

Our School of Engineering at the University of Hawaii can help develop crucial technologies, such as robotics in space.

Hawaii also provides a secure launch site within the U.S. We are the only state from which payloads might be launched into any orbit, polar or equatorial, without flying over populated areas.

About a decade ago, this idea of launches from Hawaii — specifically from the Big Island — was widely debated and ultimately vetoed for environmental reasons. We should try to return to the subject with an open mind, given that spacecraft are lightening and diversifying.

The PISCES concept was developed by the Japan-U.S. Science, Technology and Space Applications Program (JUSTAP), a bilateral agency made up of scientific, governmental and business representatives. I have served as the American “adviser” to JUSTAP, along with a counterpart from Japan.

There is a proposal before the Legislature to appropriate $1 million for PISCES in each of the coming two years. I believe these seed funds would be an appropriate and productive investment of state resources. First, Hawaii has a base of space-related projects, such as land, reef and ocean monitoring and modeling, that would expand in proximity to a high-profile international space program. Second, Japan and America have many shared needs and wants: the monitoring of storms, quakes and waves, to give but one example. More generally, because space exploration is so expensive, we have a mutual interest in sharing cost. Third, Hawaii provides the ideal social environment for U.S.-Japan collaboration or, more broadly, the collaboration of Pacific nations.

Quietly, Hawaii has provided a comfortable setting for the annual work sessions of JUSTAP, and Hawaii can provide just as comfortable a place for more visible work to be done.

The result can be truly high tech. We talk incessantly about high tech and throw tax credits at high tech. But it has been specific knowledge-intensive projects, tailored to Hawaii’s strengths and backed by judicious use of state funds, that have successfully expanded Hawaii’s economy. Among these, the University of Hawaii astronomy program is the most obvious example.

Finally, PISCES is the type of program, like the East-West Center, that challenges us to be both local and global. It can draw on who we are, but raise our aspirations. Let’s remember that, not so long ago, space exploration inspired us all. It thrilled us collectively. It can do so again.

We need programs such as PISCES to generate hope and excitement in our coming generations, to say nothing of high-paying, knowledge-intensive jobs.

George R. Ariyoshi, chairman and cofounder of Convergence CT and Cellular Bioengineering, is the former president of Prince Resorts Hawaii Inc. He is active in international business circles, particularly in Asia. An attorney by profession, Ariyoshi served in elective office in Hawaii from 1954 to 1986. He served as governor of Hawaii from 1973 to 1986 and was the first Japanese American to be elected governor in the United States.

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