Lawmakers voted unanimously to create an office of aerospace development in Hawaii. The idea is to have a "one-stop-shop" for current and future space-related industry. It includes money to begin environmental studies for a space port license.
Space tourism is one long range goal. But Hawaii is perfectly situated, near the equator, to launch commercial payloads. And some University of Hawaii students already have a leg up on that.
Newly graduated, but a final presentation to make. And it's out of this world.
Literally. These students plan, finance and build a $60,0000 satellite.
Graduate student Tyler Tamashiro shows us one.
“We have the payload, the camera, the GPS and also an IMU, which detects the motion of the craft,” Tamashiro explains, as he shows us a satellite not much larger than a can of soda.
The students launched a cube satellite from a weather balloon in Colorado, sending it up nearly 3 times as high as a jet.
And the camera on board, it glimpsed the earth's curvature.
Electrical Engineering Associate Professor Wayne Shiroma's proud of them.
“We've had 3 students in the last 6 years who became the top electrical engineering students in the nation, says Shiroma.
And they're grateful for him.
“He gives us this opportunity as undergraduates,” said Tamashiro. “Not many undergraduates get to do this hands on research.”
It is so hands-on, that last July, Byron Wolfe got his team's satellite onto a rocket in Russia.
It was a nighttime launch.
“It went up and the booster, the first stage failed to separate,” Wolfe told KHON2 News. “So it went through a stage of shutdown and so the rocket just came back down.” He added, “Yeah, it was a heartfelt loss.”
But now the students are building a new cube satellite. They can show us an animation of how it will launch, as long as the rocket scientists get their part right.
“They basically shoot out like that,” Tamashiro said, running the animation. “The small satellites shoot out like that, using a spring loaded peapod.”
They're optimistic about a Hawaii launch within 2 or 3 years. And they're ready now.
As in the case of the one the students are building, satellites are getting smaller. They're cheaper to build and deploy and this day and age, it is hoped, harder to shoot down.