State to launch its first satellite

The University of Hawaii’s much-delayed first space flight and microsatellite delivery could be a "go" for Monday, according to its Space Flight Laboratory.

The 55-foot "Super Strypi" rocket will be sent into low-Earth orbit from a 135-foot rail launcher at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai in a demonstration of economical satellite launch for the Air Force. It also represents the first satellite launch for the state.

The flight originally was scheduled for October 2013, but was pushed back multiple times due to technology and timing issues. More recently, the satellite launch was set for Thursday, then Friday and now Monday.

Super Strypi, which is designed to deliver payloads of 300 kilograms, or 661 pounds, to low-Earth orbit, is sponsored by the Air Force’s Operationally Responsive Space Office, in coordination with Sandia National Laboratories, UH’s Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory, the Pacific Missile Range Facility and Aerojet Rocketdyne.

The Air Force refers to the mission as ORS-4.

"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."

What those "launch processing issues" are was not revealed.

The three-stage flight will carry UH’s HiakaSat satellite and 12 or more much smaller satellites called "CubeSats."

The maiden flight represents the largest propulsion system ever launched from a rail system, said Aerojet Rocketdyne, which is supplying the three-stage solid-rocket motors.

The flight will be conducted between 2 and 7 p.m., before sunset, the Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory said Friday.

More than $35 million in government funding has been invested in Super Strypi, which is expected to cost about $15 million to $16 million per flight when in production — far less than current deliveries.

The Pentagon has historically relied on medium and heavy launch vehicles to place national security space payloads into orbit, which typically takes two to three years from initial order to launch date, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

"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.

The Pentagon is seeking methods of rapidly replenishing satellites as countries such as China develop anti-satellite weapons systems.

UH faculty and students built HiakaSat. "Hiaka" means "to recite legends or fabulous stories" in Hawaiian, the university said.

The 121-pound HiakaSat will demonstrate UH-developed long-wave infrared hyper-spectral imaging. It will be outfitted with two color cameras to provide wide- and narrow-view images of Earth. Images will be transmitted back that provide data on global warming, ocean temperatures, coral bleaching, volcanoes and other environmental issues, the university has said.

The Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory was established in 2007 within the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology and the College of Engineering.