University of Hawai'i at Manoa

The University of Hawai'i at Manoa established the Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) in 2007 as a multidisciplinary research and education center spanning the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology and the College of Engineering. HSFL brings together students and researchers to design, build, test, and launch small satellites and to advance Hawaii's role in space science and technology.

HSFL's signature spacecraft, HiakaSat, is a 55-kilogram micro-satellite built for remote sensing, named for the Hawaiian goddess associated with storytelling and also serving as an acronym for Hyperspectral Imaging, Aeronautical Kinematic Analysis. HiakaSat carried the DARPA-funded Space Ultra-Compact Hyperspectral Imager (SUCHI) for long-wave infrared imaging, alongside color cameras and a community-college-built payload. More than 130 students contributed to its design, fabrication, and testing.

HiakaSat flew as the primary payload on the Operationally Responsive Space-4 (ORS-4) mission in November 2015, launched on a Super Strypi rocket from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai — the first orbital launch attempt from Hawaii. Although the launch vehicle failed to reach orbit, the mission achieved HSFL's core goals of building local satellite design, launch, and workforce-development infrastructure, cementing HSFL's role as Hawaii's gateway laboratory for small satellite missions.