NSLComm announced it will launch a demonstration cubesat by the end of the year with a flexible deployable antenna to offer data rates up to the gigabit range.

Slated to take place in November 2018 onboard an India PSLV, NSLSat-1 will deliver up to 1 Gbps when in orbit. The antenna reflector folds into 2U of space inside of the demonstration vehicle and includes a flexible subreflector to optimize and shape the antenna's footprint when in orbit.

Current generation cubesats conduct operations in 10 Mbps or less, using flat or whip antennas deployed in orbit. A low-cost deployable antenna would increase data rates for numerous applications and also prove to be a boon to store-and-forward style operations in moving data.

The NSL release didn't discuss what radio frequency band or bands would be used in the demonstration satelite.