HawkSat I

HawkSat I

Mission type	Technology
Operator	HISS
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	1U CubeSat
Manufacturer	Pumpkin Incorporated
Start of mission
Launch date	19 May 2009, 23:55 (2009-05-19UTC23:55Z) UTC
Rocket	Minotaur I
Launch site	MARS LP-0B
Contractor	Orbital
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth

HawkSat I is a single-unit CubeSat which was built and is being operated by the Hawk Institute for Space Sciences. It is based on a Pumpkin Incorporated 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 also 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. Experimental data will be returned to Earth by means of a store and dump communications system.

It was successfully launched on an Orbital Sciences Corporation Minotaur I rocket from Pad 0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, at 23:55 GMT on 19 May. 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 rocket, and together the three satellites are known as the CubeSat Technology Demonstration mission.

See also

• List of CubeSats