HILO » An aerospace agency based on Hawaii’s Big Island is teaming up with NASA on a project that would bring sustainability into space.

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports that the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems plans to build a prototype of a 100-square-foot landing and launching pad made entirely of basalt this fall.

The volcanic rock found on the moon and Mars as well as Hawaii.

PISCES says the goal is to enable future space explorers to build their own infrastructure from materials available on other planets, moons or other celestial bodies.

Operations manager Christian Anderson says the pad will be assembled from basalt pavers by a rover controlled remotely from NASA’s Kennedy Space Station in Florida. They may also add time delays to replicate a lunar or Martian mission.