One-Meter Deployable Mesh Reflector for Deep-Space Network Telecommunication at ${X}$ -Band and $Ka$ -Band

This article presents the design and optimization of a deployable 1 m mesh reflector compatible with a 12U-class CubeSat. This antenna is designed for telecommunication and is compatible with NASA’s deep-space network (DSN) at <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${X}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-band (i.e., uplink: 7.145–7.19 GHz; downlink: 8.4–8.45 GHz) and <italic>Ka</italic>-band frequencies (i.e., uplink: 34.2–34.7 GHz; downlink: 31.8–32.3 GHz). Three right-handed circularly polarized (RHCP) antennas, both transmit and receive, are introduced here: <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${X}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-band only, <italic>Ka</italic>-band only, and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${X}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-/<italic>Ka</italic>-band. For the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${X}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-band-only antenna, a gain of 36.1 and 36.8 dBic is achieved at uplink and downlink frequency bands, respectively. This translates into an aperture efficiency of 72% and 62%. For the <italic>Ka</italic>-band-only antenna, a gain of 48.4 and 48.7 dBic is obtained at downlink and uplink frequency bands, which translate into an aperture efficiency of 62% and 72%, respectively.