Analysis of on-orbit thermal characteristics of the 15-meter hoop/column antenna

摘要

In recent years, interest in large deployable space antennae has led to the development of the 15 meter hoop/column antenna. The thermal environment the antenna is expected to experience during orbit is examined and the temperature distributions leading to reflector surface distortion errors are determined. Two flight orientations corresponding to: (1) normal operation, and (2) use in a Shuttle-attached flight experiment are examined. A reduced element model was used to determine element temperatures at 16 orbit points for both flight orientations. The temperature ranged from a minimum of 188 K to a maximum of 326 K. Based on the element temperatures, orbit position leading to possible worst case surface distortions were determined, and the subsequent temperatures were used in a static finite element analysis to quantify surface control cord deflections. The predicted changes in the control cord lengths were in the submillimeter ranges.