University of Hawai?i at Manoa

01/17/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/17/2024 13:10

VNR: UH signs space sciences initiative with missile defense advocacy group

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Contact:

Link to video and sound: https://go.hawaii.edu/Uan

WHAT: The University of Hawaiʻi and the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cooperate in the field of space sciences.

WHO: UH Mānoa Provost Michael Bruno and MDAA Chairman and Founder Riki Ellison.

WHEN: Tuesday, January 17

WHERE: UH Mānoa Hawaiʻi Hall

ADDITIONAL DETAILS:

  • For the purposes of the MOU, space sciences includes small satellites to monitor the Pacific region, monitoring sunspots and solar flares that can disrupt communications and monitoring activity on Earth such as volcanic eruptions.
  • UH and MDAA are committing to faculty, scholar and student exchanges; sharing academic information, materials and publications; joint research programs; conferences and other student initiatives.
  • The MOU will further incorporate a variety of technology development programs and space research at UH being conducted across different units including UH Mānoa's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, the College of Engineering, the College of Natural Sciences and the Institute for Astronomy.
  • UH also recently announced that it is in the initial stages of establishing a space engineering and instrument development center at IfA's facilities on the UH Hilo campus.
  • The MOU is for three years.

VIDEO B-ROLL:

SOUNDBITES:

Michael Bruno, UH Mānoa Provost (15 seconds)

"This program is one important step towards making Hawaiʻi the nation's center for space-based observation of the Pacific."

Riki Ellison, Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance Chairman and Founder (13 seconds)

"This will be the first time that we will be able to see everything around us in the Pacific, whether it's movements of fish, ships, planes, agriculture, everything."

Bruno (13 seconds)

"A critical need is to connect our leading-edge research to education and that is a big part of what this program is going to seek to do."