Photo: PISCES Geology Tech Kyla Defore prepares Hawaiian basalt samples for X-ray analysis. PISCES Geology Tech Kyla Defore and Planetary Scientist Jeff Taylor were in a UH Mānoa lab last month zapping volcanic rocks with an X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) machine. The...
Above: Mauna Loa’s barren and rugged volcanic slopes (shown left) bear a striking resemblance to the rocky, rust-colored surface of Mars (right). Hawaiʻi is a valuable testing ground for space exploration technologies—in part due to its expansive, isolated basaltic...
