CubeSat Antenna Design

Nacer Chahat

• Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781119692584
• eBook ISBN: 9781119692713
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Presents an overview of CubeSat antennas designed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

CubeSats—nanosatellites built to standard dimensions of 10cm x 10 cm x cm—are making space-based Earth science observation and interplanetary space science affordable, accessible, and rapidly deployable for institutions such as universities and smaller space agencies around the world. CubeSat Antenna Design is an up-to-date overview of CubeSat antennas designed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), covering the systems engineering knowledge required to design these antennas from a radio frequency and mechanical perspective.

This authoritative volume features contributions by leading experts in the field, providing insights on mission-critical design requirements for state-of-the-art CubeSat antennas and discussing their development, capabilities, and applications. The text begins with a brief introduction to CubeSats, followed by a detailed survey of low-gain, medium-gain, and high-gain antennas. Subsequent chapters cover topics including the telecommunication subsystem of Mars Cube One (MarCO), the enabling technology of Radar in a CubeSat (RainCube), the development of a one-meter mesh reflector for telecommunication at X- and Ka-band for deep space missions, and the design of multiple metasurface antennas. Written to help antenna engineers to enable new CubeSate NASA missions, this volume:

• Describes the selection of high-gain CubeSat antennas to address specific mission requirements and constraints for instruments or telecommunication
• Helps readers learn how to develop antennas for future CubeSat missions
• Provides key information on the effect of space environment on antennas to inform design steps
• Covers patch and patch array antennas, deployable reflectarray antennas, deployable mesh reflector, inflatable antennas, and metasurface antennas

CubeSat Antenna Design is an important resource for antenna/microwave engineers, aerospace systems engineers, and advanced graduate and postdoctoral students wanting to learn how to design and fabricate their own antennas to address clear mission requirements.

1
Introduction

Nacer Chahat

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

1.1 Description of CubeSats

1.1.1 Introduction

Our understanding of the universe, solar system, and Earth has significantly changed thanks to the revolution of space‐based observations using large spacecraft such as Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini, to name only a few. Although the science achievement of these missions cannot be presently matched with small satellites, smaller platforms could address targeted science questions in a rapid, and more affordable manner.

A new era for CubeSats has started with the success of Radar In a CubeSat (Raincube) [1] and Mars Cube One (MarCO) [2]. Raincube is the first active radar in a CubeSat. It has successfully demonstrated that an active precipitation radar can fit in a 6U form factor CubeSat and collect valuable atmospheric science. The Raincube CubeSat was released on July 13, 2018 from a NanoRacks deployer outside the International Space Station (ISS). As an example of its accomplishments, Raincube successfully observed typhoon Trami. Tempest‐D, another NASA CubeSat, also observed Trami within 5 minutes. RainCube nadir Ka‐band reflectivity are shown overlaid on TEMPEST‐D 165 GHz brightness temperature in Figure 1.1. This illustrates the capabilities of these small satellites that could potentially be launched in a constellation to unlock unprecedented temporal resolution (i.e. minutes) necessary to observe the evolution of weather phenomena. A potential Raincube Follow‐on mission, intends to launch a constellation of 12U CubeSats, to accommodate a larger deployable antenna for a small radar footprint with increased resolution.

Figure 1.1 (a) Photography of Trami Typhoon taken from the ISS. (b) RainCube nadir Ka‐band reflectivity overlaid on TEMPEST‐D 165 GHz brightness temperature of Typhoon Trami.

The 2018 launch of the InSight lander to Mars, included two 6U twin CubeSats called MarCO. These two CubeSats successfully provided real‐time telecommunication relay during the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) of the lander. This is also the first CubeSat to travel to another planet, Mars, and operate in Deep Space. Millions of people all over the world witnessed the successful landing of InSight thanks to these two mighty but small spacecraft. Indeed, the first image of Mars landing site taken by Insight (see Figure 1.2) was relayed in real time from the Mars surface to the Earth via the MarCO CubeSat. Without MarCO CubeSats, this picture and play‐by‐play real time EDL events would have not been possible and reconstruction of EDL event data would have been delayed by 2–3 hours.

MarCO and RainCube have paved the way for future small Earth Science and Deep Space spacecraft making interplanetary space science and high performance Earth Science much more affordable and accessible.

In 2021, 13 CubeSats will launch as secondary payloads on the Exploration Mission 1 test flight. Two examples of these missions are Lunar Flashlight [3] and Near‐Earth Asteroid Scout (NeaScout) [4]. They will utilize mostly commercial‐off‐the‐shelf components. Lunar Flashlight uses reflected sunlight to determine whether water ice is exposed on the surface in permanently shadowed lunar polar craters. It uses a four‐band spectrometer to observe the reflected light to detect exposed water ice. NeaScout will perform reconnaissance of an asteroid. Propelled by sunlight using a large solar sail, it will make accurate measurement of the asteroid ephemeris, shape, rotation state, spectral class, local dust and debris field, regional geomorphology, and regolith properties. They are both science driven missi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• IEEE Press
• CubeSat Antenna Design
• Copyright
• Preface
• Editor Biography
• Notes on Contributors
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Mars Cube One
• 3 Radar in a CubeSat: RainCube
• 4 One Meter Reflectarray Antenna: OMERA
• 5 X/Ka‐Band One Meter Mesh Reflector for 12U‐Class CubeSat
• 6 Inflatable Antenna for CubeSat
• 7 High Aperture Efficiency All‐Metal Patch Array
• 8 Metasurface Antennas: Flat Antennas for Small Satellites
• Index
• End User License Agreement