Any NASA mission that requires a microwave antenna, or a microwave sensor, will benefit from the compact deployable offset parabolic reflector antenna proposed here. Such a reflector antenna can be used for active and passive microwave remote sensing, communication systems, and other applications. Apertures up to 2 m can use a similar approach, operating up to 100 GHz. A 0.55 meter aperture stows in a diameter of 55 mm, a length of 117 mm, and a mass of 0.25 kg; a 1.2 m aperture stows in a diameter of 14.4 cm, a length of 21.3 cm, and a mass of 0.6 kg; and a 2 m aperture stows in a diameter of 24 cm, a length of 35.4 cm, and a mass of approximately 1 kg. Such compact antennas have a potential to significantly lower NASA costs for Earth observing systems and enable Solar system exploration with much more compact spacecrafts, such as CubeSats. This reduction in costs and the increased operational frequency of the proposed antenna would allow the creation of CubeSat constellations for the same cost as a single traditional satellite, such as ATMS. This has the potential to significantly increase the revisit time of a specific area for a given mission, drastically improving the utility of such applications. Several existing NASA funded programs, such as TROPICS and TEMPEST-D, could also greatly benefit from the inclusion of an antenna like the one proposed here.
Compact antennas stowable within CubeSats, NanoSats and SmallSats have a potential to open new observational capabilities to private markets. Several private companies are in or are entering into the nano/microsatellite market, with companies like Spire and PlanetLabs already operating constellations of CubeSats, and with constellations planned by OneWeb, SpaceX, Boeing, and Samsung. While these companies are not specifically focused on Earth Observations (EO), they pave the way for privatization of EO and signal a growing need for antennas such as the one proposed here. Military agencies could also benefit from this technology, with a desire for constellations of smaller satellites due to cost reductions and the opportunity of frequent technology refesh. The proposed antenna is not limited to remote sensing applications, and could equally be applied to communication purposes, with its high stowing efficiency enabling larger apertures.
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