Kauai Test Facility

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Pacific Missile Range Facility site

The Pacific Missile Range Facility (KTF) , and Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) , is on the west coast of Hawaii - Island of Kaua'i situated rocket launch site, which by the Sandia National Laboratories is operated. The launch site is often referred to as Barking Sands , an uninhabited desert-like stretch of coast, because of its location .

The rocket launch site was put into operation in 1958. In total, over 400 missiles had been launched from the Kauai Test Facility by 2012. In addition to numerous smaller sounding rockets , Strypi , STARS and Aries rockets were also launched from here . The last two types in particular are used to develop and test missile defense systems . Until November 2015, the Kauai Test Facility only performed suborbital flights, but orbital missions have also been possible since the first flight of the Super Strypi rocket, whereby the first attempt on November 4, 2015 failed.

In addition to rockets, research balloons and balloon-launched payloads such as the low-density supersonic decelerator and other atmospheric missiles were launched from the Kauai Test Facility.

Web links

Commons : Kauai Test Facility  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Sandia National Laboratories: More than 400 rockets soar from Sandia's Kauai Test Facility in 50-year history. December 17, 2012, accessed October 28, 2015 .
  2. ↑ CubeSat Project: ELaNa-7 Super Strypi Launch 2015. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015 ; accessed on October 25, 2015 : "Twelve CubeSats are set to launch aboard a Super Strypi rocket with University of Hawaii's HiakaSat primary payload from Barking Sands, Kauai on October 29th, 2015."
  3. ^ William Graham: Super Strypi conducts inaugural launch - Fails during the first stage. NASA Spaceflight, November 4, 2015, accessed November 4, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Stephen Clark: Air Force declares failure on Super Strypi test launch. Spaceflight Now, November 4, 2015, accessed November 4, 2015 .

Coordinates: 22 ° 3 ′  N , 159 ° 47 ′  W