Kalaeloa Airport could see a big jump in air traffic in coming years as a mainland partnership for “transient military, corporate and general aviation” is poised to pour $12 million into construction of a new fixed-base operation (FBO) — providing fuel, repair and pilot lounges — at the site that has had just one FBO for the past decade.

Locally run Barbers Point Aviation Serv­ice operates one 20,000-gallon Jet-A tank and a 10,000-gallon “Avgas” aviation fuel tank. The newcomer, Million Air Honolulu, is planning a fuel farm that includes up to eight Jet-A tanks, for a total of 240,000 gallons of jet fuel, and one 15,000-gallon aviation gas tank.

The view of Mars from Hawaii

Sarah Fagents, the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology researcher in planetary volcanism now working on the Mars rover mission, knows something about long distances. She earned her doctorate in planetary science at Lancaster University in the U.K. before making her way to her current post in Hawaii, where the volcanoes are still bubbling.

Now she has to align work shifts with the Red Planet’s day. Worse than the jet lag of coming to Hawaii, perhaps, without actually traveling to Mars.