HawkSat-1
| Mission type | Technology demonstration |
|---|---|
| Operator | Hawk Institute for Space Sciences |
| COSPAR ID | 2009-028D |
| SATCAT no. | 35004 |
| Mission duration | Failed on orbit |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | CubeSat |
| Bus | 1U CubeSat |
| Manufacturer | Hawk Institute for Space Sciences Pumpkin Inc. (bus) |
| Launch mass | 1 kg (2.2 lb) |
| Dimensions | 10 × 10 × 10 cm (3.9 × 3.9 × 3.9 in) |
| Power | Solar cells, batteries |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 19 May 2009, 23:55 UTC |
| Rocket | Minotaur I |
| Launch site | MARS, LP-0B |
| Contractor | Orbital Sciences Corporation |
| Entered service | Failed on orbit |
| End of mission | |
| Decay date | 4 September 2011 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee altitude | 426 km (265 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 466 km (290 mi) |
| Inclination | 40.46° |
| Period | 93.50 minutes |
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", 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.