Mahina Aerospace

Mahina Aerospace is a CubeSat technology company spun out of the Hawai'i Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Organized in Hawaii in January 2023, the company was founded by a team carrying over 25 years of combined experience in small satellite technology, with a mission to make access to space more accessible and affordable through standardized, plug-and-play CubeSat hardware.

The company's flagship product is HokuSat, a 1U CubeSat bus platform that supplies the essential subsystems needed for a spaceflight mission, including power, structure, antennas, communications, and onboard computing. By providing a comprehensive, ready-to-fly bus, HokuSat allows customer teams to focus their effort on payload development and mission operations rather than reinventing core spacecraft infrastructure, accelerating technology readiness and lowering the cost and schedule risk of validating new hardware in orbit.

Mahina Aerospace also serves as the exclusive distributor of the Artemis CubeSat Kit, a low-cost, sub-$5,000 educational 1U CubeSat kit originally developed at HSFL. The kit follows the CubeSat Kit Bus (CSKB) standard and includes onboard computing, radio communications, sensors, an infrared camera, and a power system, packaged with lunar-science-aligned tutorials and an accompanying spacecraft design course, helping train the next generation of STEM professionals with hands-on smallsat design experience.

Mahina Aerospace has been recognized as a finalist for the Hawai'i Venture Capital Association's 2024 Tech Entrepreneur of the Year award and won $10,000 at the 2023 TechConnect Space Innovation pitch challenge near Washington, D.C.