Science

HAWK-10C

SIGINT / RF geolocation · HawkEye 360

HAWK-10C completes the third of HawkEye 360's tenth radio-frequency-monitoring trio, launched together on August 16, 2024's Transporter-11 mission. Flying in tight, actively controlled formation with its two siblings Hawk-10A and 10B, it carries the software-defined radio payload that lets the cluster triangulate the source of terrestrial and maritime radio emissions—ship transponders, VHF chatter, emergency beacons—by comparing subtle differences in when the signal reaches each of the three satellites. That triangulation trick is why HawkEye 360 always launches these satellites in threes rather than singly; a lone satellite can detect a signal exists, but only a coordinated group can pinpoint where on Earth it's coming from. This cluster brought the operational constellation to 30 satellites total since the company's first Pathfinder trio flew in 2018, supporting a commercial SIGINT business built around maritime domain awareness, illegal-fishing detection, and spectrum-interference mapping for government and corporate customers worldwide.