A multibeam antenna for data relay for the German communication satellite Heinrich-Hertz

Abstract

With the increasing development of communication technologies for applications in space during recent years, there has been growing interest in building a German national geostationary telecommunications satellite. Therefore, in early 2009 the conceptual planning phases for the so-called "Heinrich-Hertz Satellite" (H2Sat) were initiated by the Space Agency of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The scientific and technical goals of H2Sat, which is intended to be launched by mid of 2014, are in particular to provide a unique platform for the in-orbit verification of novel and innovative payload technologies putting a strong focus on systems designed for operation in Ka-band. To demonstrate and utilize the advantageous potential of GEO data relays on-orbit, we propose a novel Ka-band multibeam antenna as payload component for H2Sat, which is capable of serving as the key element of multiple high bit-rate GEO data relays.