Citation
Abstract
An 8-m-diameter 8.4-GHz/32-GHz (X-/Ka-band) reflectarray antenna, as well as the associated technologies, is being developed for deep-space communication applications. Membrane implementation and the in-space deployable antenna frame are two challenging mechanical aspects of this antenna. A 1.5-m by 1.5-m breadboard and a 3-m-diameter X-/Ka-band radio frequency functional reflectarray antenna have been fabricated to develop technologies associated with the membrane implementation. To investigate the technologies associated with the deployable antenna frame, a 2.2-m sub-scale breadboard and a 3-m by 10-m breadboard were fabricated, and the deployment process was successfully demonstrated by these two breadboards at different scale levels. The design of an 8-m-diameter reflectarray antenna with current state-of-the-art, extremely thin membrane materials has also been accomplished, and results are encouraging.
Keywords
Details
- Volume
- 42-169
- Published
- May 15, 2007
- Pages
- 1–15
- File Size
- 1.2 MB