HONOLULU (AP) — The state’s much-delayed first space launch could finally be set for takeoff Monday, according to the University of Hawaii’s Space Flight Laboratory.
The 55-foot “Super Strypi” rocket will launch from Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai. The mission is sponsored by the Air Force’s Operationally Responsive Space Office in conjunction with Sandia National Laboratories, the University of Hawaii, the Pacific Missile Range Facility and Aerojet Rocketdyne.
The flight was originally scheduled for October 2013, but has been postponed several times due to technology and timing issues. The ORS-4 mission was most recently scheduled for Thursday, then Friday and now Monday.
A 135-foot rail launcher at the Kauai military base will send the rocket into space. The three-stage flight will carry UH’s HiakaSat satellite and 12 or more much smaller satellites.
“The ORS-4 Super Strypi mission is the first launch of this type of launch vehicle,” a launch representative said Thursday in an email. “As such, and not unexpected, we are working through a few launch processing issues.”
More than $35 million in government funding has gone toward Super Strypi, which is expected to cost about $15 million to $16 million per flight when in production — much less than current deliveries.
“Without a complex and costly guidance system, the (Super Strypi) launch aims to demonstrate a concept that cuts preparation and processing time from months to weeks, thereby slashing the cost of launching small satellites into orbit,” Aerojet Rocketdyne said on its website.
UH faculty and students built the 121-pound HiakaSat satellite. “Hiaka” means “to recite legends or fabulous stories” in Hawaiian, the university said.
The satellite will be outfitted with color cameras to capture images of Earth, which will provide data on global warming, ocean temperatures, coral bleaching, volcanoes and other environmental issues, according to the university.