Very Large Stable Membrane Antenna Architectures

Abstract

Satellites that monitor large scale indicators of global change, like glacier flow, soil moisture, ocean currents, and vegetation distribution, are an interesting option for current and future space missions. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) enables satellites to map different properties of the entire Earth and other celestial bodies in 3D from an orbit above. Low frequency SAR is able to partly penetrate surfaces to monitor for instance the soil moisture in heavily forested regions. The according antennas require larger but less accurate antennas than for high-frequency applications. Hence, DLR and ESA decided to investigate the possibility of deployable ultra-lightweight structures to enable large but cost effective antennas. Having in mind that the deployed structure can not carry its own weight under Earths gravity, a dedicated verification strategy is under development to facilitate the needed verification and acceptance testing. The poster gives a brief overview on the research performed and show ideas and results. RADARSAT-2 with 15 m x 1.5 m and SAR