The Hawaii NASA EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Development Program

The objectives of Hawaii NASA EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Development (RID) proposal are three-fold: (1) We will assist and lead the development of a new aerospace economy in Hawaii that is centered on small satellites and UAVs. (1a) Dedicated Small Launch – We will support new DoD and commercial launch requests from the Pacific Missile Range Facility rail launcher on Kauai. We will co-manage the development of the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Hawaii (PSCH) - a new small launch site on the Big Island of Hawaii. (1b) Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) was established in 2007 to facilitate the design, building, testing, launching, and operating small satellites from the Hawaiian Islands. HSFL continues to develop and support UH Faculty small satellite and UAV instrument, software, and hardware projects. (1c) Managing/Facilitating State Aerospace Infrastructure Development – In addition to the development of PSCH, management of other aerospace-related projects include planning the $12M (State funded) Innovation and Manufacturing Center (IMC) for Hilo, augmenting the infrastructure of UH-Hilo and Hawaii Community College to support local aerospace workforce development, and upgrading the Kauai CC ground station with software defined radios. (2) We will encourage new NASA infrastructure development in Hawaii by providing seed grants and travel grants to investigators willing to work with NASA Centers or Mission Directorates. (3) We will continue to partner with Guam on NASA research projects in order to increase collaborative efforts.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.