KAILUA, KONA, Hawai'i — The Big Island may become the center of the universe for U.S. space projects. At least that is the vision of the director of a space research program at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo.

Frank Schowengerdt, director of Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, or PISCES, said the Big Island is the ideal spot on Earth for kick-starting NASA's plans to put men and women on the moon and Mars permanently. "We're going back (to the moon) and we're going back to stay by 2018 or 2020," he said. "We want a permanent presence on the moon, and PISCES has a permanent place on the Big Island."

The PISCES program, which scored $400,000 last year from the Legislature, bills itself as an international research and education center for the development of technologies to sustain human life on the moon and beyond.

Its mission is to advance the settlement of space through partnerships with industry, academia, NASA and space agencies around the world, Schowengerdt said. Future funding likely will come from federal and state sources, as well as private donations and grants.

The program last month was instrumental in NASA's successful tests of equipment to turn soil into oxygen and water on the slopes of Mauna Kea.