HawkSat-1
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Hawksat-1 is the first satellite to be entirely designed, developed, fabricated, tested, and launched entirely from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia. Its primary function is to act as a proof of concept vehicle for future satellites to be developed by the Hawk Institute for Space Sciences.
HawkSat-1 subsystems include Command and Data Handling (C&DH), Electrical Power System (EPS) with Solar Panels to recharge the flight batteries, and Radio Communications with an Antenna Deployment System.
[edit] Payload characteristics
HawkSat-1 also carries a customer payload developed by a major aerospace firm. This experiment contains an external payload board which exposes newly developed materials to the radiation and temperatures encountered in the space environment. An internal payload board gathers the data and relays it to the flight computer every 20 minutes. The flight computer records and saves the data ultimately formatting it for subsequent transmission to the ground stations.
The Hawksat-1 radio checks for a compatible ground station signal every 20 seconds. Upon detecting such a signal it immediately establishes a communications link and begins to transmit an identification message followed by the mission data. HawkSat-1 automatically returns to data sampling mode once the communications link is terminated upon moving out of range of the ground station.
