DEVELOPMENT OF SUITABLE MECHANISM FOR A DEPLOYABLE SPACE ANTENNA OF 5.5 METER DIAMETER

Abstract

Large space base antennas are needed for a variety of different applications. Since there is no meaningful orbital assembly capability available, any large space structure will have to be self-deployable. Here various concepts of deployable antenna structure are discussed. It is shown that there are a number of truss configurations that can be used for deployable antennas. Pantographic antenna, segmented reflector antenna and tetrahedral truss antenna are few of them. By using other concepts it has been shown that a parabolic reflector surface can be formed by three dimensional integrated cable lattice systems that can be called as a tension truss. The primary feature of this antenna is that its shape is virtually determined by geometric quantities such as lengths and arrangement of cable members. Another concept uses inflation pressure for deployment, which has been studied with its surface error and fundamental frequency properties. Finally it is shown that tetrahedral truss is suitable for large space antenna structures because of its sequential deployment characteristic. The influence of the curvature and fundamental frequency on the design characteristic is investigated.