On December 29, 2022, sadly one of the founders of Hawaiʻi Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) and a great friend of Luke Flynn, Lloyd French, has unfortunately passed away. For those of you who don't know Lloyd, he was a JPL engineer with over 15-years of experience testing instruments and spacecraft at JPL before transferring over to UH Manoa. At this time, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), College of Engineering (CoE), and even the Vice President for Research and Vice Chancellor for Research supported an initiative which would lead to the foundation of Hawaiʻi Space Flight Laboratory. Lloyd was originally hired on by Paul Lucey for his hyperspectral projects in the early to mid 2000's. But Lloyd would take the initiative to become the architect of HSFL, spending countless, after midnight hours developing organizational plans and lists of necessary equipment that HSFL would need in order to be successful. Lloyd was especially committed to fostering a workforce of Hawaiian engineers and led engineering teams in early CubeSat and small sat designs. Lloyd went further to become the MIssion Manager for HSFL that led the integration and testing of the 50-kg HiakaSat satellite. After the HiakaSat satellite, he would become the new Project Manger for the famous Neutron-1 3-U CubeSat that operated in orbit for 600 days before burning up in Earth's atmosphere this previous summer.

In a statement from our Hawaiʻi Space Grant Consortium Director, Luke Flynn, he remembered Lloyd as:

"A kind, gracious, personable, intense, and highly intelligent person. He was always excited for a new engineering challenge, and I never saw him get angry no matter how complicated and stressful things became. In other words, he was the perfect person to help jump start HSFL. I can't count the number of times that I depended on Lloyd and his considerable expertise. LLoyd continued to work with HSFL and was going to help with the final integration and test of the Hyperspectral Thermal Imager in January-March 2023. His continued support greatly inspired his students. He was a great friend, and I will miss him a lot."

Our thoughts and prayers go out with his family, and we know that his legacy lives on through those he inspired. Te Videre in Astris