Session
Weekday Session 11: Communications
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
This paper describes the design, development and flight testing of a half-meter spherical membrane reflector antenna built out of reflective and clear Mylar segments. A custom-built line feed optimized for operation at 10.5 GHz is used for spherical correction. The antenna system has been jointly developed by the University of Arizona and FreeFall Aerospace, Inc as primary payload to be demonstrated on-orbit on the University of Arizona’s 6U LEO mission CATSAT, nominally scheduled to launch no earlier than September 2022. The launch is a part of NASA’s CSLI program. The mission has been designed for a low earth sun-synchronous orbit. With the primary objective being the demonstration of high data rate transmission from the inflatable antenna system. This paper describes the mission and pre-flight development activities. We present key results from integration and testing activities and future work planned.
CATSAT: A 6U Inflatable Antenna Technology Demonstration Mission
Utah State University, Logan, UT
This paper describes the design, development and flight testing of a half-meter spherical membrane reflector antenna built out of reflective and clear Mylar segments. A custom-built line feed optimized for operation at 10.5 GHz is used for spherical correction. The antenna system has been jointly developed by the University of Arizona and FreeFall Aerospace, Inc as primary payload to be demonstrated on-orbit on the University of Arizona’s 6U LEO mission CATSAT, nominally scheduled to launch no earlier than September 2022. The launch is a part of NASA’s CSLI program. The mission has been designed for a low earth sun-synchronous orbit. With the primary objective being the demonstration of high data rate transmission from the inflatable antenna system. This paper describes the mission and pre-flight development activities. We present key results from integration and testing activities and future work planned.
