The University of Hawai‘i has vital responsibilities for ORS-4, the first space launch from the State of Hawai‘i, which is scheduled for October 2013. When the Super Strypi missile takes flight from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua‘i, it will be carrying a satellite designed by University of Hawai‘i faculty and students. UH will have also played a significant role in getting that satellite into space. This mission is known as “Operationally Responsive Space-4 or ORS-4.”

A one-hour media roundtable about the University of Hawaii’s critical responsibilities for the first space launch from the State of Hawai‘i will be held at this year’s National Space Symposium.

WHO: Dr. Luke Flynn, Director, Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory, University of Hawai‘i

WHEN: Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 2:00 p.m. MDT/ 10:00 a.m. HST

WHERE: Media Center (Primrose Room on the second floor of Broadmoor Hall) at the 29th National Space Symposium at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs

HOW MEDIA CAN ATTEND: In person or call in on the media line. Phone number is 866-330-1200. Please use participant code 5768000#

Mission Manager: Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) Office, Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Department of Defense.

Partners: Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands (PMRF), Sandia National Laboratories, Aerojet, NASA Ames.

This first space launch from Hawai‘i will:

  • Deliver payloads to Low Earth Orbit
  • Demonstrate an alternative launch vehicle concept that reduces total mission cost through a simple and repeatable process.
  • Move launch vehicle processing from heavy reliance on engineering hours to technician hours.
  • Reduce launch vehicle integration and processing timelines, contributing to responsive and lower-cost launches.

Information about the Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory and the University of Hawai‘i will also be available during the 29th National Space Symposium at the Economic Development Alliance of Hawai‘i’s booth #411. The booth features information about Hawai‘i’s valuable space assets located across the islands of Maui, O‘ahu, Kaua‘i, and Hawai‘i, as well as on the upcoming Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS) Conference, the premier technical conference in the nation devoted to space surveillance.