Air Force Launches Experimental Rocket from Hawaii Facility
On November 3, 2015, the United States Air Force launched an experimental Super Strypi rocket from the Pacific Missile Range Facility off Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii, with the vehicle spinning out of control and failing less than a minute into flight.
Liftoff occurred at about 9:45 p.m. local time. The mission aimed to validate a 21st-century iteration of the three-stage Strypi sounding rocket originally deployed in the 1960s for reentry vehicle and anti-missile target tests. Powered by Aerojet Rocketdyne solid rocket motors, the system was engineered to deliver payloads directly into orbit rather than traversing suborbital trajectories.
Payloads Lost in the Pacific Test Failure
The destroyed flight carried 13 tiny satellites, destroying all of the tiny satellites aboard. The primary cargo was the Operationally Responsive Space 4 satellite, designated ORS-4 and nicknamed HiakaSat by engineers at the University of Hawaii, which was built to capture Earth imagery and monitor environmental conditions over a one-year lifespan.
Alongside HiakaSat, the rocket packed eight cubesats intended for NASA’s Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks mission, accompanied by four additional payloads provided by universities. Cubesats remain a popular architecture for space missions due to their low cost and small physical footprint, frequently operating in swarms. The total hardware loss stemmed from a likely problem with the first stage motor.
#ORS4 mission on an experimental Super Strypi rocket failed in mid-flight after liftoff from PMRF at 5:45 p.m. HST. More info to come
The Pivot to Commercial Launch Providers
The Super Strypi program never recovered from its failure, and the Air Force never tried launching another one. Since the Super Strypi failure, neither the Air Force nor the Space Force has opted to use the rocket for a new mission. The Space Force has turned instead to commercial companies for fast-turnaround launch support.
The U.S. Space Force teamed up with Rocket Lab to execute the Victus Haze mission with a mere 17 hours of notice, establishing a new record for short-turnaround launch response.
