title: HawkSat-1
text: # HawkSat-1
  
  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.
  
  ## Launch
  
  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.
  
  ## Mission
  
  The satellite was successfully deployed in orbit, but no signals were received.
  
  ## Atmospheric entry
  
  The satellite reentered in the atmosphere of Earth on 4 September 2011.
  
  