Future trends in antennas and propagation for the US Space Program

The future trends for antennas and propagation in space programs play a prominent role in three areas: information transfer, energy transfer, and remote-vision sensing. Associated with these applications of electromagnetic waves are propagation, scattering, and visualization and simulation. The author shows several unique characteristics, of planetary-surface and interplanetary regions, which have to be considered in developing analytical techniques and hardware. Cost-effective approaches dictate small size, weight, and power consumption, and high reliability. Increased emphasis will be placed on reducing the costs of hardware development, through the innovative use of terrestrial systems which will meet space qualifications. In the terrestrial environment, the ionosphere and atmosphere provide unique interaction with electromagnetic radiation, which must be considered in future applications. In view of the space-program requirements and the unique space environment, the fields of antennas and propagation will find great research challenges. As the limits of exploration of the universe are extended through remote observations, the importance of EM research will increase immensely. This paper explores some trends in this research, based on the anticipated progress in exploration, in device development, and in fabrication, in various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.<>