6 Meter Antenna and Boom System for CubeSats

Heliospace Corporation proposes accelerated development of a modular CubeSat-scale, 6.5 mm free coil (FC) diameter, 6 m length passively deployed antenna and instrument boom system. While Heliospace has produced similar antennas up to 2.7 m deployed length, demonstrating feasibility beyond 3 m requires a focused research and development effort which, unless performed prior to and independently of mission formulation, limits the perceived suitability of the technology to scientific and other objectives. Heliospace and its partners have continued to develop a new type of BeCu helical element, whose production methods were successfully scaled down and achieved TRL 4 in Phase I. The elements are ready for application in a new CubeSat-class family of Heliospace’s SABER (Spiral Actuated Boom, Extended and Rigidized) products. Phase II intends to develop and qualify multiple configurations of this modular system for TRL 6. New and highly compact SABER root stabilizing mechanisms are the minimum required advancement for the next generation of antennas and CubeSat scale applications. New specialized tethers and payout systems including compact brakes and slip rings are required for instrumented boom applications. Proving the capability of new commercial partners to produce highly flexible tethers having embedded conductors and a means of supporting the deployment tensile loads for support of deployed sensors, is critical for instrumented booms. The technical innovations described will result in significant increase of achievable deployed length over previous CubeSat antenna and boom systems, improved accuracy, precision and repeatability of form and rigidity, and reduced disturbance of small-spacecraft dynamics during deployment. The innovations will also reduce the engineering time needed to adapt the system to specific applications and eliminate manufacturing time associated with iterative deployment testing and tuning necessary for currently bespoke solutions.