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Project Imua (to move forward in Hawaiian) is a joint faculty-student enterprise of mulitple University of Hawai‘i Community College campuses in affiliation with Hawai‘i Space Grant Consortium. To date the following campuses have participated in Project Imua: Windward Community College, Honolulu Community College, Kauai Community College and Kapiolani Community College.

Project Imua's primary mission is to experiment with high-power rocketry [involving rockets using motor impulse ratings of up to O (4960 Ns) at certification Level 3] and to design and fabricate small payloads (up to approximately 7 kg) for space flight. This research provides undergraduates with real-world, project-based learning opportunities in various STEM fields. Since its establishment in 2014 through a Hawaii Space Grant Consortium award, Project Imua has managed various missions, including participation in RockSat-X, ARLISS, NASA Student Launch Project (SLP) and Spaceport America Cup ESRA competitions.

Project Director/Manager: Joseph Ciotti,

First in Space for UHCC

The first three missions of Project Imua were devoted to developing small payloads for sub-orbital flight. Project Imua Missions 1, 2 and 3 (RockSat-X 2015, 2016 and 2017) involved the design, construction, testing and launch of three separate payloads into outer space using RockSat-X’s sounding rocket launch system at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. These missions were conducted in collaborated by four UHCC campuses--included WindwardCC, KauaiCC, HononoluCC and KapiolaniCC. These missions involved the first student-developed payloads ever designed and flown in outer space by community college students from Hawaii.

Hawaii Governor David Ige presented commemorative plaques to Project Imua teams during a ceremony at the State Capitol on October 23, 2015 for Project Imua Mission 1’s exemplary work in designing, constructing and launching the first payload ever sent into outer space by a UH campus.

Each Project Imua campus participating in this historic space flight mission was awarded a special commemorative plaque.