Payload for space launch tested at NASA facility

VIDEO NEWS RELEASE

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Kelli Abe Trifonovitch, (808) 228-8108
Chief Communications Officer, UH Office of Communications
Posted: Jun 26, 2022

Honolulu CC student D’Elle Martin downloads data following payload testing.
Honolulu CC student D’Elle Martin downloads data following payload testing.
Windward CC student Nikki Arakawa works on the Project Imua payload.
Windward CC student Nikki Arakawa works on the Project Imua payload.
D’Elle Martin, Jacob Hudson and Nikki Arakawa at NASA Wallops Flight Facility.
D’Elle Martin, Jacob Hudson and Nikki Arakawa at NASA Wallops Flight Facility.
D'Elle Martin and Nikki Arakawa with a static model of the rocket that will launch in August.
D'Elle Martin and Nikki Arakawa with a static model of the rocket that will launch in August.

Link to video and sound (details below): https://bit.ly/3ygXFrW

WHO: Two UH Community College students, part of the Project Imua Mission 10 team comprising students and faculty from Windward CC and Honolulu CC.

WHAT: Tested and prepared their scientific payload for an August space launch on a NASA sounding rocket.

WHERE: NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia

WHEN: June 15–25, 2022

HOW: Project Imua Mission 10 students have been collaborating on this project for months. 

  • Windward CC 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 Honolulu CC team designed a camera system and inertial measurement devices to monitor the motion of the small experimental rocket. 

  • The entire payload is less than 1 foot long, weighs less than 15 pounds and is almost entirely encased in aluminum.

WHY:  Project-based research offers UH Community College students unique opportunities to explore and prepare for high-tech, STEM careers while working alongside NASA engineers.

OTHER FACTS:

  • In August, mentor Shidong Kan, a Honolulu CC associate professor of physics, will escort four UH Community College students to the NASA facility for final integration of the payload onto the rocket.

  • Launch is tentatively scheduled for August 9, 2022.

  • Mission 10 is the fourth time a UH Project Imua payload will be launched into outer space.

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

  • Project Imua (to move forward in Hawaiian) is a joining faculty student enterprise of multiple UH Community College campuses in affiliation with Hawai‘i Space Grant Consortium.

  • Project Imua’s primary mission is to experiment with high-power rocketry and to design and fabricate small payloads (up to approximately 15 lbs.) for space flight.

VIDEO: (TRT 1:53)

BROLL:

:00-:10 2015 first Project Imua launch in 2015

:10-:17 360-degree video of Project Imua payload

:18-:25 A building at NASA Wallops Flight Facility

:26-1:23 Stills of Project Imua students at NASA Wallops Flight Facility


SOUND:

Nikki Arakawa, Windward CC student, Project Imua [:17]

“The place where we are doing all of our testing, has not only the giant NASA 'meatball' but a three-stage rocket on the front. It’s humongous and covers the whole length of one of the workshop doors. It’s very impressive, honestly.”

D’Elle Martin, Honolulu CC student, Project Imua [:07]

“The whole experience has been pretty awesome so far, and we got to meet a lot of amazing people.”