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HPU students with the rocket at the test site.
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The HPU rocket takes off at the test site.
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The rocket cone.
HPU's student engineering team is reaching for the stars next month. The University has been selected to compete in the prestigious 2025 NASA Student Launch Competition, an annual research-based challenge that tasks university teams with designing, building, and launching a high-powered rocket. HPU is the only university from Hawai‘i participating in the event.
The competition, which spans nine months, will culminate in a final launch on May 3, 2025, in Huntsville, Alabama, home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. HPU’s team, named “Lewa,” a Hawaiian word meaning “air,” is composed of eight electrical engineering students under the mentorship of Assistant Professor of Engineering Arif Rahman, Ph.D.
HPU’s team, named 'Lewa,' a Hawaiian word meaning 'air,' is composed of eight electrical engineering students under the mentorship of Arif Rahman (seen top row, far-right).
“We are incredibly proud to represent Hawai‘i in this national competition,” said Rahman. “Over the past year, our students have spent countless hours designing and testing every aspect of this rocket. We named our team ‘Lewa’ to honor Hawai‘i’s heritage. Air symbolizes both the medium we’re launching through and the boundless possibilities ahead of us. This NASA student challenge is an amazing real-world platform for our electrical engineering students, allowing them to collaborate with aerospace professionals and refine the skills that will shape their future careers. We’re excited to showcase our work in Huntsville and stand alongside teams across the country.”
HPU’s rocket is designed to reach an altitude of 4,600 feet—matching the team’s declared target height—as accurately as possible. The rocket will carry a payload and deploy a parachute recovery system to safely return both rocket and payload to the ground.
“Our rocket took seconds to launch, but it was built on months of grit, teamwork, and relentless problem-solving,” said Gabriel Garcia-Monroy, a junior studying electrical engineering, and the HPU rocket team lead.
Teams are scored on a variety of technical and outreach criteria, including altitude precision, payload performance, flight safety, and the quality of technical documentation throughout the project.
The 2025 competition features 70 college and university teams from across the U.S., all challenged to simulate the engineering processes used by NASA, from preliminary design review through post-launch analysis.
NASA’s Student Launch Competition serves as a pipeline for STEM careers, preparing students for roles in aerospace, engineering, and technology. Now in its 25th year, the program continues to challenge students to think critically and innovate in ways that contribute to future space exploration initiatives, including NASA’s Artemis missions.
A livestream of the competition will be available, and a video will be posted on NASA’s YouTube channel following the event.
To learn more about HPU’s degree in electrical engineering, click here.
