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Completed TRL 4 (started at 3, targeting 4)
The goal of this IRAD is to design an all-metal uplink/downlink (forward/return) X-band antenna based on Code 567’s existing X-band antenna designed for the Geodetic Reference Instrument for Small Satellite (GRITSS). This antenna will cover both X-band uplink and downlink frequencies in the near-Earth and deep space bands, and will be suitable for a number of applications ranging from omni-directional patterns to high gain feeds. The immediate need for this antenna is for lunar exploration missions which are widely baselining X-band communications, including the LunaNet relays.
The antenna being in this IRAD is suitable to several applications and could even lend itself to serving in different roles on the same spacecraft. As a stand-alone antenna, this design offers a low-to-medium gain, wide beam solution well suited for low-rate links with minimal pointing requirements. Two of these antennas could be coupled to create an omni-directional pattern, especially well-suited for special, emergency, or contingency events. Lastly, this antenna could be used as the antenna feed of a high gain reflector. This concept of a single design with many applications has been hugely successful for GSFC. The S-band antennas used on many GSFC spacecraft, starting with GPM and most recently RST and PACE, used this same design concept. The S-band antenna design is used on RST for both the omni-directional pattern Low Gain Antenna (LGA) and the HGA feed. This effort seeks to build on that success by designing a similarly versatile antenna at X-band. The design is also suitable for use in dual-band high gain antennas, building upon the success of the S-band design in dual-band S/Ka reflectors.
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