A NASA sounding rocket blasted into space on August 12, carrying with it a scientific experiment designed and built by University of Hawaiʻi Community College students—marking the fifth time a payload has reached space.

Windward CC student Ryan Vanairsdale and Honolulu CC student Teal Hoffman witnessed the launch at 12 a.m. HST from NASA‘s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

“That was really cool. I can’t think of anything else to say—it’s just really cool,” Vanairsdale exclaimed.

Hoffman added, “Whatever just happened, I did not expect, and we’re just hoping that our experiment is working.”

Common goal

The Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket reached an altitude of about 100 miles before parachuting into the Atlantic Ocean.

Among the eight student-built experiments from across the nation selected for the program, Project Imua Mission 14 aimed to test a sublimation-fueled motor in space conditions, advancing understanding of alternative propulsion systems.

The Project Imua team included seven students and staff from Windward CC and Honolulu CC. Windward CC students designed the deployment system and power distribution, and conducted data analysis, while Honolulu CC students developed video capture circuits and managed data handling.

“For me, Project Imua is about teamwork. Itʻs about two community college campuses coming together and working together towards a common goal,” Hoffman said.

Moving forward

After recovery from the ocean, students received their payload for data retrieval and post-flight analysis. The hands-on work is central to Project Imua’s mission—its name means “to move forward” in ʻō������� Hawaiʻi—offering ����Ӱҵ Community College students real-world experience in high-power rocketry, engineering design and space science.

Read more stories from Project Imua

Since its first launch in 2015, Project Imua has given dozens of students the chance to contribute to space missions, work alongside NASA engineers and bring their classroom learning to space.

This week’s ����Ӱҵ News Image of the Week is from ‘s Joseph Ciotti, recently retired professor and Project Imua manager.

He shared: “The earth from 100 miles up. Windward Community College’s innovative sublimation rocket ScubeR photographed at apogee by Honolulu Community College’s onboard deck camera. NASA’s discarded Malemute second stage rocket visible at lower left. Funded by the Hawaiʻi Space Grant Consortium, Mission 10 was ����Ӱҵ Community Colleges Project Imua’s fourth payload launched into space from NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.”

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A team of students and faculty from the launched a 10.5-foot custom rocket they built in the 2022 Come-Back competition in Nevada. This year’s ARLISS competition hosted 15 teams, including teams from Japan, Mexico and Costa Rica. The ����Ӱҵ team was the lone U.S. representative.

“Here in the Black Rock desert, we are the only American team representing,” said Caleb Yuen from Honolulu CC. “I think it’s important for all the students of community colleges and universities to come out here to learn the fundamentals and the basic rules of rocketry.”

is a faculty-student enterprise of multiple ����Ӱҵ Community College campuses in affiliation with the Hawaiʻi Space Grant Consortium. Project Imua’s primary mission is to experiment with high-powered rocketry and to design and fabricate small payloads for space flight.

More Project Imua stories

The September launch, or Project Imua Mission 11, was a mixed success. The rocket flew and one of two parachutes deployed properly. The rocket contained a land rover designed and assembled by that did not exit the rocket and maneuver autonomously as planned. An atmospheric detector designed and assembled by collected data during the rocket flight that will be analyzed by the team.

“That’s rocket science,” said Project Imua Manager Joe Ciotti, a Windward CC professor. “But like the recent Artemis setbacks, each failure is taken as an opportunity to learn and improve for the next flight.”

Seven members of the Project Imua Mission 11 team also launched individual rockets they built in a event to earn various National Association of Rocketry certifications.

“Both Honolulu Community College and Windward Community College have a lot of funding and programs that students can get into. They don’t need to be in STEM-related careers,” said Honolulu CC team member D’Elle Martin. “It’s pretty fun and it exposes you to a lot of the possibilities and research projects you can get into.”

Stay tuned for more about Project Imua Mission 12 in 2023.

—By Kelli Abe Trifonovitch

Get ready for launch! A team of seven students and faculty from the University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges is building an 10.5-foot custom rocket to launch in the annual (A Rocket Launch for Student Satellites) competition in Black Rock, Nevada scheduled for September 12–15. Six members of the Project Imua Mission 11 team are also building their own rockets to launch in the (eXtreme Performance Rocket Ships) event September 16–18 to earn various National Association of Rocketry (NAR) certifications.

is a faculty-student enterprise of multiple ����Ӱҵ Community College campuses in affiliation with the Hawaiʻi Space Grant Consortium. Project Imua’s primary mission is to experiment with high-powered rocketry and to design and fabricate small payloads for space flight.

For Mission 11, will launch the team’s rocket at the ARLISS 2022 Come-Back competition. The rocket will contain a land rover designed and assembled by Windward CC that will land by parachute and autonomously make its way back to a predesignated target. An atmospheric detector designed and assembled by will collect data during the rocket flight.

Read more stories from Project Imua

During the XPRS event, students Caleb Yuen, D’Elle Martin and Alyson Wirtz and mentors Shidong Kan and Helen Rapozo will launch their own custom-built rockets to earn a level 1 NAR certification. Students Nikki Arakawa, Yuen, Martin and Wirtz and mentor Kan will also launch their individual custom-built rockets to earn a level 2 NAR certification.

“Project Imua helps students practice the good experience of being a scientist,” said Yuen. “This is my second year of being in this program and I’m taking it just like having on-the-job experience right now.”

Project Imua Mission 11 is fully funded by the Hawaiʻi Space Grant Consortium.

—By Kelli Abe Trifonovitch

“Out of this world” is one way to describe the incredible video captured by a University of Hawaiʻi Community College experiment nearly 100 miles above Earth.

On August 11, a 44-foot NASA sounding rocket blasted off from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia carrying a scientific experiment designed by Project Imua Mission 10 students into space.

Project Imua is a joint faculty-student enterprise of multiple ����Ӱҵ Community College campuses in affiliation with the that provides students with real-world, project-based learning opportunities. students designed and built a camphor-powered sublimation rocket (named ScubeR, for Super Simple Sublimation Rocket) that was deployed at the peak of the NASA rocket’s flight—at 99 miles altitude. The team designed two cameras and measurement devices to monitor the sublimation rocket’s motion.

Project manager Joe Ciotti, a Windward CC professor, calls the video captured by that Project Imua camera in space “visually spectacular.”

Ciotti continued, “The opening shows the limb of the Earth against the blackness of space and clouds covering the Atlantic. It then pans to show the second stage (of the sounding rocket) that separated moments ago, spinning as it falls back to Earth. Nearby is the outer protective skirt, tumbling after being dropped from the payload section. …(later), ScubeR begins to be deployed in the straight direction it was designed to follow.”

Project leader and Windward CC student Jared Estrada said, “Working the math and sticking with the science and engineering process we believe we have something that works and ultimately leads to success within the mission. I think it’s very successful.”

It’s been an amazing experience for the aspiring research and development physicist and the 15-member team.

Estrada said, “I would say Mission 10 is an excellent opportunity for students and overall awe inspiring for the scientific and engineering process.”

For Caleb Yuen, the Honolulu CC student responsible for developing the video cameras, the views of space were breathtaking.

Next up, Project Imua Mission 11. The team plans to launch a custom-built rocket equipped with a land rover and atmospheric detector at the ARLISS 2022 Come-Back competition in Nevada in September.

—By Kelli Abe Trifonovitch

Mission accomplished! At 12:08 p.m. HST on August 11, 2022, a 44-foot NASA sounding rocket blasted off from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia carrying a scientific experiment designed by University of Hawaiʻi Community College students about 91 miles into space.

Project Imua is a joint faculty-student enterprise of multiple ����Ӱҵ Community College campuses in affiliation with the that provides students with real-world, project-based learning opportunities. Students from Windward CC and Honolulu CC had been working on Project Imua Mission 10 for months and were delighted to see their “baby” finally take flight.

students designed and built a camphor-powered sublimation rocket that was deployed at the peak of the NASA rocket’s flight—at approximately 91 miles altitude. The team designed a camera system and inertial measurement unit devices to monitor the sublimation rocket’s motion.

Project leader Jared Estrada, a Windward CC student, said, “The launch was an amazing spectacle that served as a crowning achievement for the scientific endeavors of Project Imua.”

Project Imua provided hands-on rocketry experience both in Hawaiʻi and at NASA. In June, two students traveled to the Wallops facility to run final tests on their Project Imua payload.

• Related ����Ӱҵ News story: Payload for space launch tested at NASA facility, June 26, 2022

A few days prior to the launch, the rest of the Project Imua team was in Virginia for fine tuning and final integration.

“The hands-on, authentic research conducted by our ����Ӱҵ Community College students challenges them to set their sights on lofty goals, while building the demanding skills required in high-tech, STEM careers,” said Project Manager Joe Ciotti, a Windward CC professor. “They’ve learned through their intense year-long collaboration with NASA engineers that, when it comes to dreams and achievements, the sky’s the limit.”

More Project Imua stories

After reaching its peak, the payload carrying the experiments descended by parachute and landed in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Virginia coast. Plans were for the students to receive their flown experiments and any stored data after the payload was recovered from the ocean.

More Project Imua missions are scheduled to fly for ����Ӱҵ’s future rocket scientists.

—By Kelli Abe Trifonovitch

Editors note, August 10: NASA postponed the August 10 launch until August 11, due to bad weather at Wallops Flight Facility.

Editors note, August 9: NASA postponed the August 9 launch until August 10, when payload recovery conditions are projected to be more favorable.

A team from the has spent the past week at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia preparing for a rocket to launch the scientific experiment they designed and built into space. Launch is scheduled for August 9, between 5:30–9 p.m. EDT (11:30 a.m.–3 p.m. HST), with live coverage on the .

is a faculty-student enterprise of multiple ����Ӱҵ Community College campuses in affiliation with the that provides students with real-world, project-based learning opportunities. This includes experimenting with high-power rocketry, and designing and fabricating small payloads for space flight. In the Hawaiian language, imua means to move forward.

The students have been collaborating for months. students designed and built a camphor-powered sublimation rocket that should be deployed at the peak of the NASA rocket’s flight—at approximately 91 miles altitude. The team designed a camera system and inertial measurement unit devices to monitor the sublimation rocket’s motion.

Their experiment is one of six developed by college and university teams across the nation that will launch on a 44-foot-tall Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket. After reaching its peak, the payload carrying the experiments will descend by parachute and is expected to land in the Atlantic Ocean, about 64 miles off the Virginia coast. The students will receive their flown experiments and any stored data after the payload is recovered from the ocean.

“I’m looking forward to launch because of all the hard work we’ve put into this project to really make sure it succeeds,” said Honolulu CC student Frank Bolanos IV. “There’s a lot of work that went into it and a lot of time and waiting and excitement. So to see it actually go up is going to be incredible.”

The experiments are being flown through the in conjunction with the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. RockSat-X gives students at post-secondary institutions the experience of building experiments for space flight.

“RockSat-X provides students an opportunity to improve their skills through experiment development and then analyzing their data following the launch,” said Giovanni Rosanova, chief of the Sounding Rockets Program Office at Wallops. “Programs like these are vital in preparing students for careers after graduation.”

Mission 10 represents the fourth time that a ����Ӱҵ Project Imua payload will be launched into outer space. The first Project Imua payload was launched from Wallops in 2015.

includes a list of other participating institutions and descriptions of the students’ spaceflight technology projects.

—By Kelli Abe Trifonovitch

Two University of Hawaiʻi Community College students and their advisor spent more than a week at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to prepare their scientific payload for a space launch in August. They are part of a team of students who have been collaborating on this project for months.

students designed and built a small, light-weight rocket that will convert camphor to gas to propel its release into space at the peak of the NASA rocket’s flight. The team designed a camera system and inertial measurement devices to monitor the motion of the small experimental rocket. The entire payload is less than a foot long, weighs less than 15 pounds and is almost entirely encased in aluminum.

• Read more ����Ӱҵ News stories on the Project Imua program.

Students trouble-shoot payload

After the payload failed an initial power test, Windward CC student Nikki Arakawa, the rocket team lead, had to rewire the interface and power connections. Following another successful power test, Arakawa was able to turn the payload over to the Wallops integration team for placement in the rocket to be launched in August.

Arakawa, who graduated with her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� in May 2022 and was recently part of an award-winning rocketry team, said she is now considering going to graduate school to study aerospace mechanical engineering.

“I only just had a chance to start trying out all these things, and it just feels like—gosh I just wish I started this a lot earlier,” she said.

While at NASA, D’Elle Martin, the team lead for Honolulu CC, ran checks on the various systems, including the video capture units.

“What I realized throughout this project and through my previous project with Honolulu Community College—through both electronics programming and model rocketry—is that even though you might have a major that may not be necessarily towards engineering, you can still learn a lot about working in a team, but also different pathways to STEM careers,” Martin said.

The current ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� architecture student said the Project Imua experience has inspired her to consider the nascent specialization of space architecture.

Arakawa and Martin were accompanied by mentor Jacob Hudson from Windward CC. Mentor Shidong Kan, a Honolulu CC associate professor of physics, will escort four students to the NASA facility for final integration of the payload onto the rocket and launch, which is tentatively scheduled for August 9.

Mission 10 is funded through the and represents the fourth time that a ����Ӱҵ Project Imua payload will be launched into outer space.

The first Project Imua payload was launched from Wallops in 2015.

A NASA rocket scheduled for space launch in August will carry a scientific payload designed and built by students. When the rocket launched from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia reaches sub-orbital flight, it will release the student-built experiment.

The students have been collaborating on this project for months. students designed and built a camphor-powered sublimation rocket that will convert the camphor to gas to propel the small, light-weight rocket once the payload is released at the peak of the NASA rocket’s flight. The team designed a camera system and inertial measurement unit devices to monitor the sublimation rocket’s motion. The entire payload is less than a foot long, weighs less than 15 pounds and is almost entirely encased in aluminum.

“Project-based research like Mission 10 offers ����Ӱҵ Community College students unique opportunities to explore and prepare for high-tech, STEM careers while working alongside NASA engineers,” said Project Manager Joe Ciotti, a Windward CC professor. “For these students, this really is rocket science and one powerful confidence builder.”

Project Imua (to move forward in ʻō������� Hawaiʻi) is a joint faculty-student enterprise of multiple ����Ӱҵ Community College campuses in affiliation with the that provides students with real-world, project-based learning opportunities. Students experiment with high-power rocketry and design and fabricate small payloads for space flight. and have been part of earlier missions.

Later in June, Windward CC faculty mentor Jacob Hudson, Windward CC team lead Nikki Arakawa and Honolulu CC team lead D’Elle Martin will travel to the NASA facility to run the Project Imua Mission 10 payload through rigorous testing. Mission 10 represents the fourth time that a ����Ӱҵ Project Imua payload will be launched into outer space. The first Project Imua payload was launched from Wallops in 2015.

Read more ����Ӱҵ News stories on the Project Imua program.

A team of students from multiple campuses took first place in a rocketry competition held in Nevada in September. The ’ Project Imua Mission 9 team won the extreme altitude hybrid motor competition with the launch of their 12-foot, eight-inch hybrid rocket, named “Apophis” after the Egyptian god of chaos.

Students from originally designed and built this rocket for the ’s competition sponsored by the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association that was to be held during the summer in New Mexico, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. students designed an atmospheric sensing payload to be carried aboard Apophis.

The rocket and payload were finally launched in September 2021 in Black Rock, Nevada as part of the (AERO-PAC)’s competition. The Project Imua team won the altitude contest for the hybrid-motor class rockets after Apophis attained an apogee of 3,413 feet.

“I had actually never launched anything that big, so it was just so exciting to see it lift off the ground, go really high and then land as expected,” said student Nikki Arakawa.

Windward CC rocketry team members Arakawa and Quinn O’Malley also each placed second in the Extreme Altitude Contest for the solid rockets (in different classes) that each built and launched at the AERO-PAC competition.

Windward CC graduate and ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� physics student Jared Estrada has been involved with Project Imua since 2019 and served as project lead for the Mission 9 rocket.

“People should know that it is a great opportunity to get hands-on experience in rocketry,” Estrada said. “It is an amazing opportunity and the team is very passionate and dedicated with what they do.”

The Project Imua team composed of 17 students and six mentors worked on the project for two years, due to pandemic related delays and cancellations.

“Our students learn firsthand that rocket science is more than high tech and engineering,” said Project Imua Manager and Windward CC Professor Joe Ciotti. “‘To boldly go’ demands unwavering commitment, resilience and teamwork. The lessons learned on this mission will launch them on exciting careers.”

The two campuses are currently collaborating on Project Imua Mission 10 to develop a scientific payload that will be launched into sub-orbital flight this summer from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. This will be Project Imua’s fourth payload launched into outer space. Mission 10 is funded by the .

“We would really appreciate having more hands in our lab,” Arakawa said. “If anybody is willing to join, contact us because we really are looking to spread pretty much the joys of rocketry.”

—By Kelli Abe Trifonovitch

Read more about Project Imua on ����Ӱҵ News.

Fourteen students from , and Community Colleges and the , from the Mission 6 team, have been recognized for rocketry excellence.

The ����Ӱҵ team launched its rocket and payload in Alabama in the April . ����Ӱҵ won the Rookie Award, given to the top new team in the competition.

The Project Imua team also finished in the top 10 out of 45 teams in the college/university division, at No. 9. Vanderbilt University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University of Akron, Ohio, were the top three finishers.

“The real-life engineering skills and confidence that our students developed in this challenging competition will launch them onward to exciting careers,” said Project Imua Manager Joe Ciotti, a professor at Windward Community College. “For them now, not even the sky is the limit.”

• Read more about previous Project Imua launches.

This year’s challenge, hosted by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, tasked student teams to propose, design, build and test a reusable rocket with a payload. The rocket had to reach a team-selected altitude between 4,000 and 5,500 feet. Once reaching its highest point, the rocket deployed a recovery system and landed safely. The payload had to be a drone or rover that autonomously deployed from the rocket after landing. NASA engineers face similar questions as they design the Space Launch System rocket to send astronauts and payloads to the Moon.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

����Ӱҵ students launch rocket in NASA competition

With triumphant shouts and phones aimed skyward, University of Hawaiʻi Project Imua students achieved liftoff, launching the rocket and payload they designed and built for the near Huntsville, Alabama, on April 6, 2019.

“Iʻm so excited that our flight went so well,” said Katherine Bronston, Windward Community College team leader. “It really went just as it was supposed to.”

Ten students from , and Community Colleges and , comprised the Mission 6 team. They continued a tradition of ����Ӱҵ rocketry excellence.

“Iʻm super excited,” said Honolulu CC student Craig Opie. “Totally stoked that it actually worked. We put a lot of effort and a lot of just collaboration, lack of sleep into this thing, especially over the last couple of weeks. And just seeing it go up and perform so beautifully was just amazing.”

NASA Student Launch competition teams are challenged to “call their shot” and predict before launch day how high their rocket will fly. The Project Imua rocket flew to 4,338 feet, and the team had predicted a peak height of 4,700 feet The 10-foot-tall rocket is named “Fissure 8” after the prominent volcanic vent in the 2018 Kīlauea eruption on Hawaiʻi Island.

“To be able to see it in person, it was really beautiful to see it work the way itʻs meant to and see those ʻchutes come out and just watching it come down,” said Mia Fong, Honolulu CC team leader. “It was amazing.”

The payload, a four-wheeled rover named “Hoʻomau” (the Hawaiian values of perseverance and persistence) was designed to travel 10 feet before collecting a soil sample. The entire experience was inspiring.

“I might become an astronaut,” said Leomana Turalde, Windward CC student. “Iʻve always kind of wanted to become an astronaut since I was a kid, and watching this rocket fly, Iʻm kind of finding confidence in myself that itʻs possible.”

Project Imua’s primary mission is to develop small payloads for space flight while providing undergraduates with project-based learning opportunities in STEM fields. awarded Project Imua a grant of $65,931, which covered materials, student stipends and travel expenses.

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Follow the Project Imua team:

Read more about previous Project Imua launches.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

Ten students from , and Community Colleges and , comprising the Mission 6 team, are in Alabama, preparing to launch the rocket and payload they designed and built for the .

“I believe the best part of Project Imua is just the hands-on experience. Rocketry is something that I’ve always found super interesting,” said Kapiʻolani CC student Lauren Grzegorczyk. “Our team for this specific project had to design, engineer–this is all real-world experience we’re gaining. It’s just a type of experience that you can’t really replicate in classes.”

NASA Student Launch competition teams are challenged to “call their shot” and predict before launch day how high their rocket will fly. Project Imua’s 10-foot-tall rocket is named “Fissure 8” after the prominent volcanic vent in the 2018 eruption on Hawaiʻi Island. Their payload is a four-wheeled rover named “Hoʻomau” (the Hawaiian values of perseverance and persistence), designed to travel 10 feet before collecting a soil sample.

The challenge is being held near in Huntsville, Alabama, culminating with student rocket launches on April 6, 2019, and featuring the work of 52 teams from 21 states.

At the welcome ceremony for the competition, students heard from NASA Deputy Manager Trey Cate about the Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built. “SLS will enable astronauts to begin their journey to explore destinations far into the solar system,” according to NASA

Eric Takahashi, a ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� mechanical engineering student, said, “I would describe rocket science to be very challenging, difficult at times, sometimes it’s also very stressful, but, at the end of the day, it’s very rewarding.”

Project Imua’s primary mission is to develop small payloads for space flight while providing undergraduates with project-based learning opportunities in STEM fields. awarded Project Imua a grant of $65,931, which covered materials, student stipends and travel expenses.

Note: NASA will be livestreaming the launches, currently slated for Saturday, April 6, on the . The broadcast will start at 8:40 a.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT). Livestream of the launches includes interviews with the teams and NASA VIPs and guests. The launches typically conclude around 2 p.m. CDT, when the broadcast will wrap.

You can follow the Project Imua team’s progress in the following ways:

Read more about previous Project Imua launches.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

students are designing and building a rocket and payload to be launched from a NASA flight facility as part of the . Ten ����Ӱҵ students from , and Community Colleges and three from ����Ӱҵ Mānoa comprise the Mission 6 team.

“The NASA Student Launch is a competition hosted by NASA annually and it’s a prestigious competition where they have teams build a launch vehicle and build a payload specified to each yearʻs requirements,“ explained Windward CC student and rocket team leader Katherine Bronston. “This year we’re building a 10-foot rocket that will go about a mile, not quite a mile, into the air and then it will land in two independent sections and a rover will come out, intended for soil collection.”

Honolulu CC student Mia Fong leads the payload team that is designing and building the rover. She said, “It’s been really interesting to learn all about this process especially because the NASA competition mimics the [real-life] NASA design review, you kind of get to see what it would be like in industry before actually getting there.”

As part of their preparation for Mission 6 and to test their rocket’s design, the Project Imua students recently launched small-scale rockets at Windward CC.

Project Imua started as a collaboration between four ����Ӱҵ Community Colleges in 2014 to provide students with real-life aeronautical engineering experiences with NASA.

• Read more ����Ӱҵ News stories about Project Imua

“It’s so that students have a hands-on project-based educational experience and by doing this they learn all the rules that NASA expects from any company that they are going to subcontract to,” said Windward CC Instructor Jacob Hudson.

The Project Imua team was informed by NASA in October 2018 that they had been selected to compete in the 2019 NASA Student Launch. Teams are challenged to “call their shot” and predict before launch day how high their rocket will fly.

awarded Project Imua a grant of $65,931, which will cover the materials, student stipends and travel expenses.

Project Imua will have a design review by NASA in January 2019, to see if their rocket will be approved to launch at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama in April 2019.

Bronston said, “It’s very exciting to get to work with NASA and to get to design our own project and to see it launch and to see it actually work.”

You can follow the Project Imua team’s progress in the following ways:

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

Editor’s Note (August 14): The Project Imua payload was successfully launched Sunday, August 13 at 5:30 a.m. EDT. According to Honolulu Community College mentor William Smith, the sounding rocket went about 96 miles high and returned down into the Atlantic about 80 miles from shore. It was fished out of the sea (recovered) by a contracted local fishing boat. .

Editor’s Note (August 11): Due to weather conditions, the launch has been rescheduled to Sunday, August 13 between 5:30 and 9:30 a.m. EDT.

students are getting ready to launch their third payload from a NASA facility. The launch from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is scheduled for a window between 5:30 and 9:30 a.m. EDT on Saturday, August 12. (See editor’s note above.)

Live coverage of the mission is scheduled to begin at 5 a.m. EDT on the site. Launch updates also are available via the and sites. Facebook Live coverage begins at 5:15 a.m. EDT.

Smartphone users can download the What’s Up at Wallops app, which contains information on the launch as well as a compass showing the precise direction for launch viewing.

Project Imua is a joint faculty-student enterprise of four ����Ӱҵ community college campuses (, , and ). Its primary mission is to engage undergraduate students in project based STEM research with real-world development of small payloads for space flight. A NASA grant awarded to the �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� Space Grant Consortium has helped to fund the project.

Honolulu CC Project Imua Mentor Will Smith and students Cale Mechler and Nick Herrmann are at Wallops in final preparations for Saturday’s launch. Another mentor and other ����Ӱҵ community college students traveled to Wallops this past June to conduct preliminary tests on the payload.

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Read previous ����Ӱҵ News on Project Imua.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

����Ӱҵ at Mānoa’s has been selected as the university’s nominee for the Governor’s Award for Distinguished State Service as Employee of the Year. The award honors the state’s executive branch employees and managers who exemplify the highest caliber of public service and dedication to serving the people of Hawaiʻi.

As the director of the and the , Flynn has brought tens of millions of dollars to the university.

He oversaw the production of the university’s first space rocket launch—overseeing the design, construction and testing of the university’s satellite and the instruments that were launched on the rocket. As a result of his leadership, the university attracted several requests for additional space missions, as well as the construction of different satellites and/or instruments for other satellites.

• Related: ����Ӱҵ plays a vital role in Hawaiʻi’s first space launch, April 10, 2013
  Space is the next frontier for ����Ӱҵ, April 11, 2013

Flynn also assisted ����Ӱҵ Community College’s (, , and ) in drafting a successful NASA grant for $500,000 to operate Project Imua—a program to engage undergraduate students in project-based research with real-world STEM applications by developing small payloads for space flight.

• Related: Project Imua team looking forward to third rocket launch, March 7, 2017

His colleagues say that Flynn “has been an inspiration, catalyst and driving force for engaging ����Ӱҵ Community College students and faculty in aerospace education and career awareness” and he “has almost single-handedly created a space program within the State of Hawaiʻi.”

A team of students gathered at in Virginia in August 2016 to . A NASA videographer documented their journey.

Project Imua is a joint faculty-student enterprise of four ����Ӱҵ community college campuses (, , and ). Its primary mission is to engage undergraduate students in project-based research with real-world STEM applications by developing small payloads for space flight.

Project Imua’s first payload was launched on a NASA sounding rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in the summer of 2015. Its second payload named PrIME (Project Imua Multiple Experiment), consisted of a neutron-gamma ray detector and an innovatively powered rocket that was deployed at a height of 96 miles. Nicknamed ScubeR (for Super Simple Sublimation Rocket) for its motor’s simplicity in the use of a mothball-like naphthalene propellant that transformed from solid to vapor. Although the sounding rocket’s sub-orbital flight on August 17, 2016 was successful, NASA search planes were unable to find and recover the payload containing the ����Ӱҵ experiments. The payload was declared lost at sea in the Atlantic.

The Project Imua team is currently designing their third payload—PrIMEAT (pronounced primate) for Project Imua Multiple Experiment Attempt Two. This payload consists of many of the subsystems from the lost 2016 flight. On board are improved versions of ScubeR, which includes a heating coil for added thrust, an infrared laser rangefinder, a lookback camera for photographing the payload from space, video and still cameras for monitoring ScubeR and several motion tracking devices. PrIMEAT is scheduled for launch from NASA Wallops Flight Facility in August 2017.

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—By Kelli Trifonovitch

Editors Note, August 17, 2016: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility said in a statement following today’s launch, “Data was received from most of the student experiments. However, the payload was not recovered as planned. NASA will investigate the anomaly.”

A Terrier Improved-Malemute suborbital sounding rocket carrying a payload developed by students launched from in Virginia, August 17. The rocket launched around 7:33 a.m. EST (around 1:33 a.m. HST) and reached a height of 95.29 miles.

A team of three mentors and eight students was at Wallops for the launch. The initiative known as Project Imua involves students from four ����Ӱҵ Communty College campuses. The project provides them with real-life hands-on aeronautical engineering experiences with NASA. This was the Project Imua team’s second NASA launch and second payload.

Their second payload, developed by students from four community college campuses, was named PrIME (Project Imua Multiple Experiment). Included in PrIME:

• A neutron-gamma ray detector designed and fabricated by , a prototype, which is being tested for a possible future orbital flight.
• An innovatively powered rocket designed by and fabricated using a 3-D printer. ScubeR (Super Simple Sublimation Rocket) will be deployed at the peak of the NASA sounding rocket’s flight.
• has configured two on-board Mobius Action cameras to record video and pictures of the flight and has selected a motion tracker to record g-forces.
• The team developed the payload’s interface boards for power and conditioning and data processing and transfer, as well as the housing for these circuits.

The rocket had been scheduled to launch August 16, but the launch had to be scrubbed due to boats being in the hazard area off the coast.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

����Ӱҵ News video: Project Imua team ready for second NASA launch

Members of the ’ Project Imua team have successfully completed final tests and integration of their payload at NASA in Virginia.

The students from four ����Ӱҵ community colleges finished the “remove before flight” procedures to prepare the propellant for their innovative rocket ScubeR and the camera on board its nosecone. They also integrated their payload called PrIME for Project Imua Multiple Experiment into the sounding rocket that is scheduled to carry their scientific experiments into space when it is launched on August 16. The students will not be allowed to touch their payload again until after it is recovered post-launch.

The Project Imua’s final tests and integration

See images from .

����Ӱҵ News video: Project Imua team ready for second NASA launch

Project Imua team members have held several successful mission simulations of their second payload named PrIME for Project Imua Multiple Experiment.

Project Imua (to move forward in Hawaiian) is a joint faculty-student enterprise of four campuses to develop small payloads for spaceflight while providing undergraduates with hands-on learning in STEM fields. This is reflected in the experiments the students created to be flown into space:

• A neutron-gamma ray detector designed and fabricated by , a prototype, which is being tested for a possible future orbital flight.
• An innovatively powered rocket designed by and fabricated using a 3-D printer. ScubeR (Super Simple Sublimation Rocket) will be deployed at the peak of the NASA sounding rocket’s flight.
• has configured two on-board Mobius Action cameras to record video and pictures of the flight and has selected a motion tracker to record g-forces.
• The team developed the payload’s interface boards for power and conditioning and data processing and transfer, as well as the housing for these circuits.

“The neutron detector that Kauaʻi CC helped build is the first of its kind,” said Kauai CC student Kaina Allard-Mahoney. “It’s going into space, it was developed by real students at a community college and it’s going on a NASA rocket. Great project. Great experience.”

An exciting first

Windward CC professor and Project Imua Manager Joseph Ciotti says their rocket is another first. He said, “The propellant we are using is what people normally use for mothballs. It’s naphthalene and that will turn from a solid to a gas and propel the rocket, and this is the first time that this is being done in space. So, it is kinda exciting!”

This is the second of two years for the project funded with a half-million dollar NASA grant awarded to the , which includes $200,000 in student internships.

Windward student Cale Mechler is a two-year team member who got to see the launch of the first Project Imua payload from NASA in Virginia in August of 2015.

“This has been an awesome experience,” said Mechler. “Being able to do the same things that any company that wants to fire a rocket with NASA goes through—we went through all the same stages.”

Those stages included having their experiments launched into space, having the rocket retrieved and returned to NASA and opening up their payload to retrieve the data from their experiments.

“What’s great about it is it provides students an opportunity hands-on, project-based, to learn STEM-oriented projects and get familiar with careers in aerospace engineering,” said Ciotti.

A team of three mentors and eight students will return to Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to conduct final tests for integration and launch on a NASA sounding rocket. This sub-orbital flight, which will carry the payload to an altitude of approximately 100 miles during its 15-minute mission, is scheduled for launch on August 16, 2016.

360-degree virtual reality views of the PrIME payload and the sublimation rocket ScubeR

—Images courtesy of Joseph Ciotti

More about the first Project Imua launch

, August 12, 2015

, July 16, 2015

, June 12, 2015

—By Kelli Trifonovitch