A novel antenna concept for future solar sails: application of Fresnel antennas

Recent studies have shown that interplanetary missions may be made possible using inflatable solar sails that employ solar-flux power, providing thrust for spacecraft while reducing onboard fuel requirements. These sails require a large surface area (i.e., 100 m in diameter) to capture enough solar flux for spacecraft navigation. In this paper, a novel communication antenna concept is proposed for future solar-sail missions, taking advantage of the large sail surface area via application of Fresnel-zone (FZ) antennas. This study focuses on utilizing a design/analysis methodology using physical optics (PO) and method of moments (MoM) for Fresnel-type antennas applicable to the solar-sail missions. Extensive parametric studies of Fresnel-zone antenna radiation characteristics have been performed, and the analytical methodologies were verified using a series of measurements. Fresnel-zone antenna gain is studied under different antenna configurations. Furthermore, a Fresnel-zone antenna under surface deformation is investigated to characterize Fresnel-zone antenna performance in the reflective mode. In addition, a new bandwidth-enhancement technique is introduced for Fresnel-zone antennas, to accommodate the dual-band operation ( X band uplink and downlink) of the antenna for the deep space network (DSN).