The development of inflatable array antennas

Three inflatable array antennas recently developed for spacecraft applications are a 3.3 m×1.0 m L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) array, a 1.0 m-diameter X-band telecom reflectarray, and a 3 m-diameter Ka-band telecom reflectarray. All three antennas are similar in construction and each consists of an inflatable tubular frame that supports and tensions a multi-layer thin-membrane RF radiating surface with printed microstrip patches. The L-band SAR array achieved a bandwidth of 80 MHz, an aperture efficiency of 74%, and a total mass of 15 kg. The X-band reflectarray achieved an aperture efficiency of 37%, good radiation patterns, and a total mass of 1.2 kg (excluding inflation system). The 3 m Ka-band reflectarray achieved a surface flatness of 0.1 mm RMS, good radiation patterns, and a total mass of 12.8 kg (excluding inflation system). These antennas demonstrated that inflatable arrays are feasible across the microwave and millimeter-wave spectrums. Further development of these antennas are deemed necessary, in particular, in the area of qualifying the inflatable structures for space environment usage