2020•Unpublished venueRequires access
Inflatable Antenna for CubeSat
Alessandra Babuscia, Jonathan Sauder, Aman Chandra, Jekan Thangavelautham
Open publisher page 5 citations
Abstract
The inflatable antenna for CubeSat project has been developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory over 7 years with the support of multiple partner institutions. During this period of time, two different prototype concepts were developed and tested which are the S-Band and the X-Band prototypes described in this chapter. The concept of inflatable antennas has been actively researched for many years and only few prototypes have ever been flown in space. The chapter provides an overview of the history of inflatable antennas research with a focus on the history of the development of the CubeSat prototype. It focuses on the development of the X-Band prototype and the main design challenges associated with the inflatable antenna: Earth atmospheric drag and dynamics. However, the development of such antenna presents inevitably several challenges especially in relation to surface accuracy, proper inflation, shape maintenance, thermal control, micrometeoroid puncturing, and rigidization.