The Ke Ao satellite is a low-cost 1U CubeSat designed and developed by an undergraduate team of engineering students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) in collaboration with the Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL). The primary goal of the mission is to take one or more pictures from space and automatically identify the Hawaiian Islands using Machine Learning Algorithms - this will demonstrate improved onboard operational autonomy in space.

A group of Hawaii students made history Friday night as they attempted to launch their own satellite into space.

After two years of work, the miniature CubeSat satellite, measuring just 4 inches on each side, was ready for launch. On September 2, Hiapo was aboard the maiden launch of the Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha Launch Vehicle which took off from Vandenberg Airforce Base in California.

In a bold new initiative to inspire the next generation, NASA has awarded $2.4 million to six universities, including the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, as part of its Artemis Student Challenges. UH Mānoa received $500,000 to create to create an affordable 1U CubeSat kit, which will help develop a robust aerospace program starting at the undergraduate level, including hardware, software and an online lab course.