Space agency asks state for funds to keep it going

A state agency devoted to advancing space exploration will be dissolved next summer if Gov. David Ige doesn’t approve an emergency appropriation to continue its operations, according to the agency’s executive director, who worries that the program has lost the support of the governor and key lawmakers.

The Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, known as PISCES and based in Hilo, has requested $670,000, which would support salaries for four full-time and several part-time staff.

Without the appropriation, “we are out of business after June,” Rob Kelso, PISCES’ director, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

IN ADDITION to the money, which would support operations from July through October, PISCES is requesting $1.5 million in state funds for the 2017 fiscal year, he said. However, that funding isn’t expected to be available until November.

Cindy McMillan, a spokeswoman for Ige, said that the governor hasn’t made a decision on future funding for the agency.

“The governor has supported this program in the past,” she said by email. “He is currently reviewing requests for funding in all state departments and will be making decisions on the administration’s budget in the coming weeks.”

In 2012 Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed Act 169 into law, which placed PISCES under the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The program was formerly affiliated with the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

At the time, Abercrombie said that “the economic vitality of our state requires out-of-the box approaches” and cited PISCES as a way of increasing business opportunities within the state.

However, Kelso said that the current administration and Legislature have grown concerned that PISCES, which has focused on research that could help colonize the moon and Mars, isn’t generating the kind of economic activity that the state had hoped.

The agency’s business model was a central topic during a meeting earlier this month of the PISCES board of directors, which includes former Gov. George Ariyoshi and Blue Planet Foundation Chairman Henk Rogers, among others. Kelso recommended that PISCES explore other businesses models, including space tourism and small satellite launches, which could bring in more money and jobs for the state.

“It’s clear to me that they don’t see a lot of value in what we do today,” Kelso told PISCES’ board, in reference to the state’s political leaders. “We have to morph ourselves into something different that aligns with what the state wants, which is economic development and money infusion and jobs. I think something has to change. I don’t think that the status quo is sustainable.”

BOARD members seemed weary of the idea, however, noting that space tourism and satellite launches diverge from PISCES’ original mission, blur the line between what should be state-sponsored versus commercial activities, and could be a hard sell to the the governor and Legislature.

Rogers, chairman of the board, said PISCES needs instead to be more aggressive in seeking funding from the Legislature for projects that will advance the agency’s research.

“I think we go big or go home. That’s how I feel,” said Rogers. “I feel your frustration, Rob. I’m sharing your frustration, you know. We are not getting enough money to make that vision come true — that we are going to have a piece of the space ex(ploration) business.”

Kelso told the Star-Advertiser that he still thinks that the space tourism and satellite launch businesses hold promise for the state, but noted that PISCES needs the board’s support to move forward.