Should STARS drop out of the picture, the Kaua`i Test Facility would still have plenty of people lined up at its door wanting to launch rockets.
Leading the pack, in fact, is Hawai`i’s own Office of Space Industry. For years, OSI has been trying to develop a spaceport for private launches in the Ka`u district of the Big Island. With no success likely in the foreseeable future, it now has turned its sights on Barking Sands.
According to OSI’s director, Ken Munechika, his office has approached the Department of Energy with a proposal to launch rockets carrying “educational” payloads. The University Space Research Association has a need for this type of launch facility, he told Environment Hawai`i recently. When asked if he was responding to requests of USRA to find a launch site, Munechika said only that the approach was “mutual. They had a need, and we recognized it.”
The Kaua`i Test Facility would be used only until the Ka`u facility was up and running, Munechika said.
And when might that be?
According to Munechika, work on the Ka`u project is ongoing. “We’re working on finishing up the environmental impact statement. Studies are still being done. Hopefully, it will be done this summer.”
Volume 3, Number 9 March 1993
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