Design and performance of Astromesh reflector onboard Soil Moisture Active Passive spacecraft

Author

Mobrem, Mehran ; Kuehn, Steve ; Spier, Chris ; Slimko, Eric

Author_Institution

Astro Aerosp. - Northrop Grumman Aerosp. Syst., Carpinteria, CA, USA

fYear

2012

fDate

3-10 March 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

10

Abstract

The Soil Moisture Active Passive¹ (SMAP) instrument includes a conically scanning 6-m diameter deployable Astromesh reflector and feedhorn that rotates relative to a de-spun spacecraft at 14.6 RPM. This is the first application of a spinning Astromesh reflector. This paper describes the design and performance of the Reflector/Boom Assembly (RBA) under multiple constraints and requirements that are inherent to a spinning large flexible reflector/structure. The deployed RBA has stringent mass property control and knowledge requirements, structural natural frequency separation requirements, and all other typical ones including the antenna performance. Finally the validation of the design on the ground by analysis/test and its difficulties due to gravity are discussed.

Keywords

aircraft antennas; geophysical equipment; meteorological instruments; moisture measurement; reflector antennas; soil; supports; SMAP; antenna performance; astromesh reflector; mass property control; reflector/boom assembly; size 6 m; soil moisture active passive spacecraft; spinning astromesh reflector; Assembly; Extraterrestrial measurements; Instruments; Measurement uncertainty; Monte Carlo methods; Observatories; Uncertainty;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace Conference, 2012 IEEE

Conference_Location

Big Sky, MT

ISSN

1095-323X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4577-0556-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AERO.2012.6187094

Filename

6187094