Low Cost Deployable Reflector Support Structure

The National Security Space Office has identified low cost 5 m aperture RF spacecraft payloads as a transformational space technology. The Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) office is developing a "common aperture" RF system architecture which would enable $20M class RF payloads meeting a variety of ORS mission requirements. Two critical elements of this architecture are correspondingly low cost deployable reflectors and active electronically scanned antenna (AESA) feeds. SpaceDev has partnered with Mevicon to develop the low cost 5 m class RF reflectors required by this program. The proposed Phase II effort would integrate SpaceDev’s deployable structures and Mevicon’s form-stiffened reflector segment technologies to meet both the technical and cost requirements. SpaceDev has recently developed low cost, elastically deployed RF antenna systems with a variety of applicable technology components. Mevicon has developed enabling fabrication processes for low cost reflector segments which can be rolled to package them for launch. The proposed program will demonstrate the precision fabrication and deployment repeatability required for RF bands from UHF through Ka. At the same time, SpaceDev Precision Deployable Reflectors (SPDR) offer a factor of four reduction in cost when compared to state-of-the-art mesh reflector systems. BENEFIT: SpaceDev Precision Deployable Reflector (SPDR) technology is being developed to enable a variety of ORS missions. The ORS common aperture RF system architecture would enable radar, signals intelligence, and communication missions with RF bands ranging from UHF to Ka. SPDR’s packaging efficiency and low cost allows a variety of DoD and commercial RF payloads to be packaged with small sat busses into Minotaur 1 and Falcon 1 to deliver high performance at exceptionally low program costs.