Summary

The deployable ‘Wrapped Rib’ Cassegrain antenna is designed for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) at X-band. It provides a way of bringing large aperture antenna (>3m) for SAR to a 100~kg small satellite with OSS’ proprietary deployment and stowage design, enabling persistent imaging in spotlight mode to deliver unparalleled resolutions through cloud and at night.

The in-house metal mesh, supported by composite ‘ribs’, forms a required parabolic reflector surface.

Deployability in both the primary reflector and secondary reflector enables an excellent stowage ratio, 6:1 radially and 3:1 axially. The antenna is easily accommodated to ESPA ring platforms.

The antenna employs a simple deployment system using its own strain energy from the stowed configuration and is RF passive once deployed in orbit, simplifying the SAR radar electronics.

OSS has been significantly investing in the development of technologies and verification through extensive analysis and ground based test programmes, including a RF test campaign, and the antenna is now ready to demonstrate its performance in orbit.

Key features

High RF performance
Compact stowage realized by deployability in both diameter and height, reducing mission costs
Suitable for 100~kg satellite, compatible with ESPA ring platforms
Simple deployment: strain energy only, no actuator or partial deployment
RF passive once deployed, no power consumption for SAR operations
Customisable RF and mechanical features due to the modularity of the antenna design: Frequency (L to Ka band), antenna architecture, antenna diameter (3 – 6+m)

Export control

The Oxford Space Systems Wrapped rib antenna is ITAR Free.

Disclaimer: satsearch is not responsible for any mistakes on this page, although we do our best to ensure correctness. Please report any mistakes to us.

Last updated: 2024-04-24