A Large Aperture Parabolic Cylinder Deployable Mesh Reflector Antenna for Next-Generation Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar

The tensegrity synthetic aperture radar (TenSAR) antenna architecture is a unique next-generation high-aspect ratio deployable reflector that promises to enable surface deformation and change (SDC) monitoring with low-Earth orbit (LEO) small satellites. We present the development of a novel C-band parabolic cylinder deployable mesh reflector with a 7m1.5 m rectangular aperture as the first TenSAR antenna demonstration. Unique stowage and deployment mechanisms are implemented for the first time for this mesh deployable reflector. A lightweight 132 element linear patch array feed based on honeycomb substrate is designed to test the performance of the reflector. The measured reflector antenna achieved a measured gain of 42.06 dB at 5.357 GHz, with half-power beamwidths of 0.52 and 2.35 in E- and H-plane.