Overview of the Innovative Space-Based Radar Antenna Technology Program

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency accomplished technology development and demonstration toward a 300 m deployable space antenna under the Innovative Space. Based Radar Antenna Technology program. Risk-reduction activities focused on deployment testing, calibration, structural metrology, and real-time compensation. A 12 m phased-array-fed reflector engineering test unit was tested in a laboratory environment and demonstrated shaping of a single-curved, parabolic-cylinder mesh surface and deployment repeatability. A 12 m engineering test unit using rigidizable-inflatable structural components was also tested, but this approach was more problematic and less robust. Finally, two antenna metrology and compensation engineering test units were tested in a compact range. The mulls from one were reported. Data showed that the closed-loop system minimized phase error to less than 1/30 of a wavelength, given realistic disturbance inputs.