A cohort of 10 University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa undergraduates was selected to take part within the inaugural LUNADS—Lunar Undergraduate/graduate missioN Architecture Design Seminar—a aggressive nationwide program run by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) below NASA to interact college college students in lunar science and NASA-style mission design.
The college students are engaged within the Space System Science and Technology program undergraduate minors, both the minor in Earth and Planetary Exploration Technology or the minor in Human Space Flight Technology, administered by the Hawaiʻi Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) within the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST).
“This program gives our undergraduate students direct access to NASA-style mission design alongside some of the best planetary scientists and engineers in the country—an experience that grows directly from our Earth and Planetary Exploration Technology and Human Space Flight Technology programs and reflects HIGP’s long-standing commitment to preparing the next generation of space scientists and engineers from Hawaiʻi,” mentioned Peter Englert, HIGP professor and LUNADS school lead and program coordinator.
Designing a lunar mission idea
One of solely 4 college cohorts chosen nationally, the UH Mānoa college students will take part within the program all through the 2026–2027 tutorial 12 months. The program features a Lunar Science Seminar Series, adopted by a 10-week Mission Design Seminar in spring 2027 during which they work straight with APL scientists and engineers to design an precise lunar mission idea—the staff chooses the science query and builds the mission. The accomplished mission structure shall be revealed on Zenodo, an open-access repository, with all pupil contributors listed as co-authors.
The college students deliver numerous tutorial backgrounds, with majors spanning mechanical engineering (aerospace focus), astrophysics and kinesiology and rehabilitation science. HIGP researchers Paul Lucey (lunar distant sensing), Matt Siegler (lunar thermal science and volatiles, resembling water, carbon dioxide, and different gases) and Shuai Li (lunar water ice detection) will all function school advisors.
“The knowledge, skills and hands-on experiences ahead for these students make LUNADS participation a direct and meaningful extension of their academic work within HIGP and UH Mānoa programs,” Englert mentioned. “I look forward to seeing where they take this opportunity.”