Development of Deployable Reflector Antenna for the SAR-Satellite: Part 1. Design and Analysis of the Main Reflector Using Honeycomb Sandwich Composite Structure

Abstract

The deployable reflector antenna based on the synthetic aperture radar is a satellite component that consists of a unit structure in the form of a folded reflector. During the launch process, this satellite antenna is in the stowed condition to improve storage efficiency. It is then deployed to perform the space mission in the on-orbit condition. Due to these structural characteristics of the deployable reflector antenna, the reflector is possible to be loaded in the limited volume of the launch vehicle with the reduced size. Additionally, because the deployable reflector antenna is made by the lightweight material of the carbon fiber reinforced polymer and honeycomb core, it can reduce the launching cost and improve the revisit interval. In this paper, the conceptual design of the main reflector of the deployable reflector antenna was conducted. The main reflector was designed as the honeycomb sandwich composite structure. To design the main reflector, the stacking sequence of the composite material and honeycomb core was investigated to maximize the structural stiffness and minimize the antenna’s mass. Subsequently, finite element analyses including modal, quasi-static, structural–thermal coupling, and transient response were performed to numerically evaluate the structural performance of the lightweight composite reflector antenna.