| HawkSat-1 | |
| Mission Type: | Technology demonstration |
| Operator: | Hawk Institute for Space Sciences |
| Cospar Id: | 2009-028D |
| Satcat: | 35004 |
| Mission Duration: | Failed on orbit |
| Spacecraft Type: | CubeSat |
| Spacecraft Bus: | 1U CubeSat |
| Manufacturer: | Hawk Institute for Space Sciences Pumpkin Inc. (bus) |
| Power: | Solar cells, batteries |
| Launch Site: | MARS, LP-0B |
| Launch Contractor: | Orbital Sciences Corporation |
| Entered Service: | Failed on orbit |
| Decay Date: | 4 September 2011 |
| Orbit Reference: | Geocentric orbit[1] |
| Orbit Regime: | Low Earth orbit |
| Orbit Inclination: | 40.46° |
| Orbit Period: | 93.50 minutes |
| Apsis: | gee |
HawkSat-1 was a single-unit CubeSat which was built and is being operated by the Hawk Institute for Space Sciences (HISS), Pocomoke City, Maryland. It is based on a Pumpkin Inc. CubeSat kit, and carries a technology demonstration payload, primarily as a proof of concept mission, testing command, data and power subsystems, as well as solar panels and communications.
It carries a commercial material exposure research payload for an undisclosed "major aerospace company",[2] which exposes a number of material samples to space, and records the effects of exposure on the materials. The data was to be sent to Earth by means of a storage and dump communication system.
It was successfully launched on an Orbital Sciences Corporation Minotaur I launch vehicle from Pad 0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, at 23:55 UTC on 19 May 2009. It was a tertiary payload, with TacSat-3 as the primary payload and PharmaSat as the secondary. Two other CubeSats, AeroCube-3 and CP6, were launched on the same launch vehicle, and together the three satellites are known as the CubeSat Technology Demonstration mission.
The satellite was successfully deployed in orbit, but no signals were received.[3]
The satellite reentered in the atmosphere of Earth on 4 September 2011.[4]