UNCW SeaHawk-1 CubeSat Decommissioned

Mission Accomplished!

In early 2015, a team of scientists and engineers set out to prove that a CubeSat, a nanosatellite about the size of a shoebox or a loaf of bread, could carry an inexpensive photo sensor made with off-the-shelf parts and deliver high-resolution ocean color images of the Earth’s coastal regions from space.

Three years later, the team successfully launched SeaHawk-1, equipped with a sensor suitably named HawkEye. By late 2023, the CubeSat had been in orbit for five years and collected a treasure trove of stunning, data-packed, high-resolution images along the way. After a successful run, the completed SeaHawk-1 mission is now summarized in an article published Nov. 18, 2024, in Nature’s Scientific Data, marking its legacy as a successful proof-of-concept project with tremendous potential for continued ocean color analysis and future discovery.

Unprecedented High-Resolution Images

The SeaHawk-1, with its HawkEye sensor, produced more than 9,000 images that are archived by NASA and ready for use.

SeaHawk-1/HawkEye images processed by Alan Holmes/NASA

A Science Dream Team

The team credited for the project’s success includes principal investigator John M. Morrison, professor emeritus of physics and oceanography and the visionary for the program; Phil Bresnahan, assistant professor of earth and ocean sciences who took over as PI upon Morrison’s retirement; and multiple global partners—NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the Hawk Institute for Space Sciences, University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, Cloudland Instruments, Spaceflight Inc. and AAC Clyde Space.

A Tremendous Mission

Dr. John Morrison is a professor at UNCW's Center for Marine Science's Physics and Physical Oceanography department.

“We had an incredibly successful mission, run and managed by an unbelievable team. We overcame many problems which were expected, as we were at the bleeding edge of CubeSat design with arguably one of the most complicated 3-U satellite missions ever!”

- John M. Morrison, Professor Emeritus, Physics and Physical Oceanography

350

Miles From Earth

15

Orbits Around Earth per Day

7000

MPH Travel Speed

Far-Reaching Impact

Dr. Philip Bresnahan, Earth and Ocean Sciences Professor

“This project has already had and will continue to have far-reaching impact through its ability to prove the concept that ocean color remote sensing is possible from a CubeSat using a comparatively low-cost and replicable design and to provide the highest available resolution ocean color satellite images. We are equally excited about what the mission has already achieved and what it enables through open access to 120 m ocean color data from around the globe.”

- Phil Bresnahan, Assistant Professor of Earth and Ocean Sciences

A Global Game-Changer for Ocean Color Scientists

Each image contains 100MB of invaluable scientific data that researchers can use to study topics such as climate change, pollution, fishery exploration, at-risk marine species and the coastal impact of major weather events.

Ocean Color Photos

Free access to all of the project’s ocean color images and data is available through the NASA Ocean Biology Distributed Active Archive Center.

NASA’s Ocean Color Web

Arabian Sea Chlorophyll image from space

Project Support

The SeaHawk-1 project was made possible by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through $6.5 million in grants and the NASA Space Act Agreement.

“I am immensely grateful for this opportunity that the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation provided us, and to John Morrison and Sara Rivero-Calle (UGA and former UNCW post-doctoral scholar) for inviting me to join the team. It has been wonderful working with and learning from our collaborators at UGA, NASA, Cloudland Instruments, and Clyde Space, and I am excited to continue analyzing the vast dataset that we've amassed.”

-Phil Bresnahan, Assistant Professor of Earth and Ocean Sciences

Video courtesy of AAC Clyde Space

seahawk 1 imagery earth and satellite from alan holmes/NASA

SOCON (UNCW)

UNCW established the Sustained Ocean Color Observations with Nanosatellites program (SOCON) to help facilitate all aspects of the SeaHawk-1 CubeSat project, from planning and designing to building, launching and observing. Image courtesy of NASA/GSFC and AAC Clyde Space

Discover the history & mission

Team Achieves Proof-of-Concept

SeaHawk-1 CubeSat’s first ocean color test image was successfully downlinked from space to NASA’s Wallops Ground Station in Virginia in March 2019. During a telecall with the SeaHawk-1 team, NASA Engineer Alan "Bruno" Schonbrunner saw the true color image of California's coast and said, "...that's pretty good for a shoebox!"