| Satellite name | MCNAIR | 
|---|---|
| Spacecraft type | CubeSat | 
| Units or mass | 12U | 
| Mass in kg | 19.9 kg | 
| Status | cancelled | 
| Entity name | Akash Systems | 
| Institution | Company | 
| Entity type | Commercial | 
| Headquarters | US | 
| Manufacturer | AIVT by Blue Canyon | 
| GS Service | KSAT | 
| Oneliner | Demonstrate 5Gbps+ downlink from a 10-Watt 3U radio transmitter. | 
| Description | Test own GaN-on-Diamond transmitter technology with a flight-proven software defined radio (SDR) in a compact form factor. Demonstrate the transmitter’s capability to handle more than five gigabits per second (5Gbps+) downlink speeds from a 10-Watt 3U radio transmitter. Simulation and ground-based lab tests have proven that the Akash GaN Transmitter is capable of transmitting data rates as high as 14 Gbps. The Ka-band parabolic antenna has a 3 dB beamwidth of 2.2degrees and a gain of 36.2 dBi. The Akash GaN Transmitter will downlinkpre-configured test data over a single 1.2 GHz bandwidth channel in Ka-band (19.0 -20.2 GHz) to a 13.2 meter ES in Dongara, Western Australia. MCNAIR’s S-band TT&C SDR will receive telecommands from and transmit telemetry to a3.7mKSAT ES located in Svalbard. | 
| Sources | [1] [2] [3] | 
| Photo sources | [1] | 
| COTS subsystems | 
 | 
| Subsystems sources | [1] [2] | 
| Keywords | Deployable parabolic antenna, Ka-band | 
Last modified: 2024-12-14

