Terrestrial based inflatable dish antennas

A terrestrial based 4.8-meter dish is presented. The dish is constructed using lightweight, thin film technologies used in spaced-based platforms. Seaming two parabolic dish films together forms a lenticular. One film is coated with a silver flake conductive paint, and the other is RF transparent. The lenticular is inflated to hold the parabolic shape of the dish. The lenticular is attached to the inside of an inflatable spherical radome. The radome provides environmental protection to the thin film lenticular. The lenticular and radome are designed such that the focal point is located on the surface of the radome. An RF feed is attached to the radome at the focal point. The gain of the dish is measured using the sun as an RF source. Solar gain measurement data is presented showing the measured peak gain from the sun and the width of the main beam.