The smallsat primes sell you a bus. A communications constellation is a bus, a ground network, a licence and a key.
NanoAvionics and GomSpace publish strong platform numbers, including a 1 Gbps X-band downlink and AES256 on the link. What their datasheets do not cover is the ITU filing, the national key authority and the ground network that turn hardware into a sovereign communications service.
Our communications work comes from a supplier that has built and launched satellites and ground stations, so the constellation, the encryption arrangement and the ground segment are delivered as an operating service rather than a design study. The equipment is in service in conditions where connectivity is treated as critical national infrastructure.
Side by side
| Attribute | Represented by UnstratCommunication satellites | Kongsberg NanoAvionicsMP42 microsatellite bus1Lithuania and Norway | GomSpacePlatform Kits, 6U to 16U2Denmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is being sold12 | A national LEO communications capability: constellation, ground stations, encryption arrangement and spectrum position | A microsatellite bus up to 115 kg, empty bus mass from 30 kg, optimised in part for high data throughput and complex communications missions, sold with launch and mission services | A ready-to-assemble platform kit from 6U to 16U with a complete subsystem set, integration manual and 50 hours of customer support |
| Orbit and design life12 | LEO at 400 to 600 km | Critical subsystems rated for an expected lifetime of at least 5 years in LEO | Design lifetime 5 years in LEO |
| Round-trip latency | Under 30 ms, parity with terrestrial fibre | Not published | Not published |
| Payload downlink throughput12 | Not published | Up to 1 Gbps on X-band (8100 to 8500 MHz, 8 W output); S-band transmit up to 10 Mbps, receive 128 kbps | High speed link from 500 kbps to 6 Mbps on S-band and up to 225 Mbps on X-band, CCSDS compatible; TMTC downlink up to 90 kbps |
| Encryption and key authority2Publishing a cipher is not the same as stating who holds the keys. Ask both questions in writing. | Encryption end to end under national key management, with no foreign operator holding decryption authority for government or military traffic | Not published | AES256 encryption and authentication on the platform kits; key custody arrangements not published |
| Spectrum and ITU filings | Filings held by the nation, secured ahead of commercial pre-emption of 6G non-terrestrial slots | Not published | Not published |
| Direct-to-device to standard handsets | Supported per 3GPP Release 17 and 18 non-terrestrial network standards | Not published | Not published |
| Inter-satellite links1 | Cross-links designed so the network survives loss of any single point | Intersatellite link for continuous real-time communications, with LEO to LEO and LEO to GEO options | Not published |
| Ground network behind the mission123 | National ground stations under national control | NanoAvionics-owned stations in Denmark, Lithuania and the USA, plus commercial partner stations in more than 200 locations including KSAT, LeafSpace and AWS | NanoGround plus the optional HOOP operations platform, integrating with commercial ground stations such as KSAT |
| Quantum key distribution payload | Available as a hosted addition on the same constellation | Not published | Not published |
| Origin and political exposure12 | Independent and non-aligned | Lithuania and Norway; EU and NATO member-state export chain | Denmark; EU and NATO member-state export chain |
Competitor values are quoted from the vendor documents listed under Sources, as published on the date shown. Configurations vary, so treat every row as a starting point for the evaluation rather than a like-for-like test result.
What the table means
A bus is not a communications programme
MP42 and the GomSpace kits are good hardware with published numbers we should respect: 1 Gbps on X-band and 225 Mbps respectively, five-year LEO design lives, AES256 on the GomSpace link. Buy either and you still have to secure spectrum, file with the ITU, build or rent ground stations, decide who generates and holds keys, and staff an operations centre. Those four items are where national communications programmes actually stall, and they are the items our contract is written around.
The filing is the asset
Frequency rights are finite and are being taken now, particularly the non-terrestrial slots that 6G handset connectivity will use. A nation that buys spacecraft but not filings has bought a very expensive way to rent someone else's spectrum later. We structure the programme so the ITU filings are held by the nation. Neither published platform datasheet addresses spectrum at all, which is not a criticism of the hardware, only a warning about what the price covers.
Who can switch you off
Encryption strength is easy to compare. Key custody is the question that decides whether a foreign operator can read, throttle or cut government traffic. Our arrangement puts key management with the nation and the kill authority with the nation. If you are evaluating any other supplier, ask them to state in the contract who holds the keys, who can suspend service, and which government's licence would be needed to restore it after a political disagreement.
Questions buyers ask
What is the best alternative to buying a NanoAvionics or GomSpace platform for a national satellite communications programme?
If your team already has spectrum, a ground network and operators, those platforms are efficient buys with published throughput figures and five-year LEO design lives. If you are starting from a policy commitment rather than an engineering department, a platform purchase leaves the hard parts undone. Our programme covers the constellation at 400 to 600 km, national ground stations, encryption under national key management and ITU filings held by the nation, which is a different scope and should be priced as one.
How does LEO satellite communications compare with terrestrial fibre on latency?
Our constellation operates at 400 to 600 km with round-trip latency under 30 ms, which is parity with terrestrial fibre for most applications and far better than geostationary links. Neither NanoAvionics nor GomSpace publishes a latency figure, because they sell platforms rather than a service, so latency in their case depends on the constellation architecture a customer chooses to build.
Can satellite communications reach ordinary smartphones without a special terminal?
Ours supports direct-to-device connectivity to standard handsets under 3GPP Release 17 and 18 non-terrestrial network standards. That is a constellation and spectrum question as much as a spacecraft question, which is why it does not appear in the platform datasheets of bus vendors. If direct-to-device matters to your ministry of interior or your disaster agency, make it a written requirement early, because it drives the spectrum filing.
Who holds the encryption keys in a sovereign satellite communications system?
In ours, the nation does. GomSpace publishes AES256 encryption and authentication on its platform kits, which is a strong cipher, but the published material does not state key custody. That distinction matters: the cipher protects you from an eavesdropper, while key custody determines whether the supplier or its government can ever read or deny your traffic.
What happens to a satellite communications programme if relations with the supplier's government deteriorate?
With an EU or NATO member-state supplier, spares, software loads and constellation expansion pass through that state's export system, which can change with a government. Our origin is non-aligned and the ground segment, keys and filings sit with you, so the failure mode is a commercial dispute rather than a diplomatic one.
Sources
- 1. NanoAvionics (Kongsberg NanoAvionics), MP42 High-Performance Microsatellite Bus (up to 115 kg), product brochure (copy held on this site)Retrieved: 2026-07-31 · Published by NanoAvionics for DSEI 2021.
- 2. GomSpace, Platform Kits: a fast-track, ready to assemble CubeSat kit (V. 3-5-2025) (copy held on this site)Retrieved: 2026-07-31
- 3. GomSpace, Ground Segment Solutions: NanoGround and Hands-off Operations Platform (HOOP), V. 1-10-2024 (copy held on this site)Retrieved: 2026-07-31