2023-10-30 19:45:00
Satellite dishes use their concave shape to capture and concentrate electromagnetic radiation. The larger the diameter or aperture of the antenna, the more effective it will be at capturing radio waves and transmitting radio signals over long distances.
In astronomy, placing telescopes and radio telescopes above the Earth’s atmosphere, which tends to distort or degrade signals from space, is a huge advantage. The problem is that traditional large reflector antennas are heavy, unwieldy and difficult to store folded for their trip to space, all of which imposes launch limitations and risky deployment operations outside of Earth.
A new design solves these problems. The LBR (Large Balloon Reflector) antenna inflates like a beach ball and provides the same service as a conventional satellite dish of similar size, without the need for bulky and complex deployable hardware. And furthermore, during its shipment to space it can remain folded as much as possible, occupying a tiny volume.
In 2018, FreeFall Aerospace, a company co-founded by Christopher Walker to develop and commercialize this technology, demonstrated the potential of LBR antennas by sending one of them aboard a NASA stratospheric balloon the size of a sports stadium and which rose to an altitude of 48 kilometers. The test antenna proved its usefulness
Inflatable antennas of this class can easily have diameters of 10 meters or even more.
Inflatable antennas of the new class are capable of withstanding the hostile conditions that prevail in the highest part of the atmosphere and in space. (Image: Christopher Walker, NIAC Fellow/FreeFall Aerospace)
The next step in perfecting this technology is a demonstration of high-speed communications in low Earth orbit aboard a CubeSat, about the size of a shoebox, called CatSat. This is a joint initiative of NASA, FreeFall Aerospace, the University of Arizona and Rincon Research Corporation of Tucson, Arizona.
After reaching low Earth orbit, CatSat’s inflatable antenna deployment system will inflate the antenna to a diameter of approximately half a meter and begin transmitting high-definition photos of the Earth to the mission control center.
The inclusion of one of these inflatable antennas in a more ambitious lunar-type mission is also being studied. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States, would use the inflatable antenna on a mission to search for lunar water. (Source: NCYT from Amazings)
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