A metamaterial-based antenna for Plasma Blackout During Reentry

Hypersonic reentry vehicles experience communication blackout due to a plasma sheath that forms around them at high speeds. This plasma, consisting of ionized gas, attenuates or reflects radio waves, disrupting critical communication with ground control.  This proposal outlines the design and development of a metamaterial-based antenna system to overcome this RF blackout challenge, ensuring uninterrupted communication throughout the reentry process. The proposed antenna system will be consisted with a layered meta material structure. The materials will be chosen to bear with high temperature conditions during reentry. To ensure reliable communication under different plasma conditions at different altitudes, we propose a mechanically tunable metamaterial design. The capacitance of the metamaterials will be controlled by changing the dielectric constant with a mechanical movement. Therefore, the antenna can actively response the negative permittivity changes created by plasma densities depending on the reentry altitude.