The chosen site at Barking Sands on the western tip of the island of Kauai,
some 207 km (129 miles) west-northwest of Honolulu International Airport was
part of the Kekaha Sugar Company in the 1920’s. It was turned into an Army Air
Base during World War II and was transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1957. The terminal for scheduled commercial air traffic and rental car services for the island is
Lihue Airport, some 22 km (35 mi) from the PMRF by road. A major advantage
of this site over others in Hawaii was the PMRF tracks missiles as an everyday
activity. Tracking equipment and trained personnel assure that balloons are tracked
with a high accuracy and reliability. Outside users are easily accommodated. A
resident weather unit takes observations and maintains forecast facilities. Air traffic and FAA compliance are not issues. And of course the transportation of apparatus is simpler than for a foreign site.
In 1964, Dr. Alvarez proposed what became known as the High Altitude Particle
Physics Experiment (HAPPE), originally conceived as a large superconducting
magnet that would be carried to high altitude by a balloon to observe extremely
high-energy particle interactions. Later, the focus of the experiment changed to the
study of cosmology, and the role of both particles and radiation in the early universe.
It was a substantial project with detectors flying at high altitude using not only balloons but also the U-2 aircraft. Dr. Alvarez won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968
for his work on the discovery of a family of new particles and resonance states.
The PMRF was not used very often in the NASA Balloon Program but a couple
of flights made some history. In June 2014 and 2015 the site was used to launch
the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), a project that has many facets
including the development of the reentry system, the balloon launch system, and
the balloon flight support equipment and electronics. Systems for the new static
launch technique involved a huge effort to construct and test a launch tower.
The LDSD static launch tower was built to NASA “critical lift” standards, has
a payload suspension point height 24.4 m (80 ft) above the ground, a 4.6 m (15 ft)
long horizontal jib for payload suspension, and is capable of supporting 4,850 kg
(10,700 lb). At the instant of payload release the jib turns through an arc of 120°
in just 2 seconds. The tower weighs 68,000kg (150,000 lb). New flight support
equipment and associated software was developed, including a method to obtain
multiple sources for azimuth orientation to correlate with the release trajectory,
tower launch control electronics, transponders for meeting the requirement for
Mode C (Altitude Reporting) Air Traffic Control (ATC), and a wireless in-line
load bolt to provide knowledge of flight line tension during launch. See Section
7.4.3 for details.
A series of test launches from Fort Sumner, NM in 2013 qualified the LDSD’s
launch equipment and support systems, clearing the way for the first tests from the
Barking Sands PMRF in Hawaii in June 2014.
To watch the launch of the LDSD in 2015, go to:
https://youtu.be/ZiWOgjJqN1A
128 Launch Sites
some 207 km (129 miles) west-northwest of Honolulu International Airport was
part of the Kekaha Sugar Company in the 1920’s. It was turned into an Army Air
Base during World War II and was transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1957. The terminal for scheduled commercial air traffic and rental car services for the island is
Lihue Airport, some 22 km (35 mi) from the PMRF by road. A major advantage
of this site over others in Hawaii was the PMRF tracks missiles as an everyday
activity. Tracking equipment and trained personnel assure that balloons are tracked
with a high accuracy and reliability. Outside users are easily accommodated. A
resident weather unit takes observations and maintains forecast facilities. Air traffic and FAA compliance are not issues. And of course the transportation of apparatus is simpler than for a foreign site.
In 1964, Dr. Alvarez proposed what became known as the High Altitude Particle
Physics Experiment (HAPPE), originally conceived as a large superconducting
magnet that would be carried to high altitude by a balloon to observe extremely
high-energy particle interactions. Later, the focus of the experiment changed to the
study of cosmology, and the role of both particles and radiation in the early universe.
It was a substantial project with detectors flying at high altitude using not only balloons but also the U-2 aircraft. Dr. Alvarez won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968
for his work on the discovery of a family of new particles and resonance states.
The PMRF was not used very often in the NASA Balloon Program but a couple
of flights made some history. In June 2014 and 2015 the site was used to launch
the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), a project that has many facets
including the development of the reentry system, the balloon launch system, and
the balloon flight support equipment and electronics. Systems for the new static
launch technique involved a huge effort to construct and test a launch tower.
The LDSD static launch tower was built to NASA “critical lift” standards, has
a payload suspension point height 24.4 m (80 ft) above the ground, a 4.6 m (15 ft)
long horizontal jib for payload suspension, and is capable of supporting 4,850 kg
(10,700 lb). At the instant of payload release the jib turns through an arc of 120°
in just 2 seconds. The tower weighs 68,000kg (150,000 lb). New flight support
equipment and associated software was developed, including a method to obtain
multiple sources for azimuth orientation to correlate with the release trajectory,
tower launch control electronics, transponders for meeting the requirement for
Mode C (Altitude Reporting) Air Traffic Control (ATC), and a wireless in-line
load bolt to provide knowledge of flight line tension during launch. See Section
7.4.3 for details.
A series of test launches from Fort Sumner, NM in 2013 qualified the LDSD’s
launch equipment and support systems, clearing the way for the first tests from the
Barking Sands PMRF in Hawaii in June 2014.
To watch the launch of the LDSD in 2015, go to:
https://youtu.be/ZiWOgjJqN1A
128 Launch Sites