European large deployable antenna:Development status and applications

Abstract

De ontwikkeling en de laatste (2006) resultaten van de kwalificatie aktiviteiten van de 12 meter ontvouwbare reflector antenne worden beschreven. Het betreft een ontwikkeling door de prime contractor Thales Alenis Space samen ket verscheidene partners onder een ESA contract. This paper presents the development and the ultimate results of the qualification activities of the 12m unfurlable Reflector Assembly of the Large Deployable Antenna (LDA), jointly developed by the Prime Contractor: Alcatel Alenia Space Italia and several Partners, under an ESA contract. The qualification campaign will be finalized within September 2006, opening near term opportunities for space applications relying on a European technology. The paper also dedicates a section to a Flight Experiment (FE), which is a follow on activity of the LDA qualification, for the in orbit verification of the LDA performance. The final section of the paper provides an overview of\u3cbr/\u3ethe LDA possible applications at System level