{"id":220132,"date":"2025-08-12T14:12:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T00:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=220132"},"modified":"2025-08-12T14:12:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T00:12:23","slug":"nasa-rocket-carries-uh-experiment-into-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/08\/12\/nasa-rocket-carries-uh-experiment-into-space\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA<\/abbr> rocket carries UH<\/abbr> Community College students\u2019 experiment into space"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Rocket
Photo credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A NASA<\/abbr> sounding rocket blasted into space on August 12, carrying with it a scientific experiment designed and built by University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community College students—marking the fifth time a Project Imua<\/a> payload has reached space.<\/p>\n

\"Honolulu
Honolulu CC<\/abbr> student Teal Hoffman.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Windward CC<\/abbr> student Ryan Vanairsdale and Honolulu CC<\/abbr> student Teal Hoffman witnessed the launch at 12 a.m. HST<\/abbr> from NASA<\/abbr>‘s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.<\/p>\n

“That was really cool. I can\u2019t think of anything else to say—it\u2019s just really cool,” Vanairsdale exclaimed.<\/p>\n

Hoffman added, “Whatever just happened, I did not expect, and we\u2019re just hoping that our experiment is working.”<\/p>\n

Common goal<\/h2>\n
\"Windward
Windward CC<\/abbr> student Ryan Vanairsdale.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket reached an altitude of about 100 miles before parachuting into the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

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

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

“For me, Project Imua is about teamwork. It\u02bbs about two community college campuses coming together and working together towards a common goal,” Hoffman said.<\/p>\n

Moving forward<\/h2>\n

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\u2019s mission—its name means “to move forward” in ʻ\u014dlelo<\/span> Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>—offering UH<\/abbr> Community College students real-world experience in high-power rocketry, engineering design and space science.<\/p>\n

Read more stories from Project Imua<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Since its first launch in 2015<\/a>, Project Imua has given dozens of students the chance to contribute to space missions, work alongside NASA<\/abbr> engineers and bring their classroom learning to space.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

—By Kelli Abe Trifonovitch<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UH<\/abbr> Community College students\u2019 space experiment soars 100 miles aboard NASA<\/abbr> rocket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[182,62,855,71,66],"class_list":["post-220132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-engineering","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-project-imua","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-windward-community-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220132"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220148,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220132\/revisions\/220148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}