Questions tagged [antenna]
Questions about devices which collect and couple electromagnetic signals (communications, radar or other electromagnetic measurements) directly between free space, and conductors (e.g. waveguides or other transmission lines).
104
questions
3
votes
0
answers
71
views
Have spherical dish antennae been used with Molniya satellites to avoid switch-over signal loss?
Molniya-orbit communication satellites work well for ground locations near the poles. These high eccentricity, highly inclined orbits, with a period of 12 hours, “loiter” for about 6 hours over the ...
- 17.5k
4
votes
1
answer
110
views
Geo satellite - antenna gain contours to heat map in STK
I am using STK to show antenna gain contours on the ground from a transmitter on a sensor on a geo bird that is tracking a receiver on the ground. With good resolution I can create great images that ...
- 41
2
votes
0
answers
43
views
Add small extra gps antenna on tracker installed inside aluminum tube [closed]
I would like to install a GPS tracker inside a scooter. Will the GPS signal will be lost if I install the tracker inside the vehicle?
Can I add a small extra antenna to fix outside the scooter?
- 21
3
votes
1
answer
65
views
TLE along track error to miss a contact opportunity in UHF
Update: (following @GregMiller's comment):
Lets suppose a spacecraft has performed a boost and not all ground stations received the update, lets suppose the difference between the pre and post ...
- 33
4
votes
0
answers
247
views
Polarization mismatch between a LEO satellite and ground terminal
Cross-polarization loss between a circularly polarized antenna and vertical or horizontal polarized antenna is known to be -3dB. This is one of the reasons why Circular Polarized antennas are ...
- 153
2
votes
1
answer
84
views
Antenna wrap material suitable for lunar & cis-lunar environment
I am looking for a wrap (station) antenna for a transceiver (in space/lunar)
Not all materials are suitable for the space environment. Does anyone know what wrap antenna materials I can use?
I have ...
- 267
0
votes
1
answer
246
views
Has there ever been a dish antenna on a lander? If so, which was the first? How about rovers?
At about 04:49 in Scott Manley's January 30, 2022 video Deep Space Radiation, Black Holes And Other Questions - Episode 14 a painting by the science fiction and ...
- 149k
3
votes
0
answers
177
views
Why does this "satellite antenna at the Laguna Peak Tracking and Injection Facility" look so weird? (two dishes back-to-back)
The video 1967 Navy Satellite Navigation training film (IBM 7094 data center) after 11:57 (older version here) the narrator says:
For every pound of satellite in ...
- 149k
3
votes
0
answers
140
views
Are LHCP L-Band antennas for Cubesats available?
I am designing a cubesat to carry out GNSS reflectometry or GNSS-R. To collect the earth reflected signals, I need a nadir pointing array of patch antennas, with Left Hand Circular Polarisation (LHCP) ...
- 31
2
votes
1
answer
146
views
What antennas does JAXA use to communicate with its deep space spacecraft? Does it have a deep space network of its own?
@BrendanLuke's answer to Are there currently any spacecraft in orbit around Venus that might (or might not) be at risk of meteoric dust from comet Leonard C/2021 A? alludes to the exciting story of ...
- 149k
3
votes
1
answer
319
views
Which S-Band ISS antenna stopped transmitting to TDRS and was replaced during the recent 2021-12-02 EVA?
CNN's says:
Marshburn and Barron began their spacewalk at 6:15 a.m. ET, and it's expected to last for about six and a half hours. The team will replace a malfunctioning communications antenna.
Live ...
- 149k
1
vote
0
answers
50
views
Are there any selfies of Curiosity or Perseverance with their high gain antenna deployed and "looking up"?
The Curiosity and Perseverance rovers have high gain antenna arrays on a mechanical arm that can rise up and point towards Earth and communicate directly.
Has the Curiosity rover ever communicated ...
- 149k
1
vote
1
answer
510
views
How does a 22 dBi X-band "patch" antenna get so much gain and how well behaved is its high-gain radiation pattern?
@NgPh's answer to How will the LICIACube cubesat transmit DART impact images back to Earth? What kind of antenna and radio will it use? quotes LICIACube on DART mission: an asteroid impact captured by ...
- 149k
3
votes
2
answers
489
views
How will the LICIACube cubesat transmit DART impact images back to Earth? What kind of antenna and radio will it use?
MarCO
The Mars Cube Ones or MarCOs were 6U cubesats that were deployed in deep space during the InSight mission to observe it during a critical, dynamic period of its mission, in this case the N ...
- 149k
2
votes
0
answers
183
views
Field of view from Antenna
I am trying to calculate the revisit rate for my satellite constellation. My satellite hosts software-defined radios as its payload. Hence, I need to find the field of view from antenna. My S-band ...
- 251
2
votes
0
answers
49
views
Antenna for receivers
I am designing a CubeSat 6U in which I am using Software Defined Radio with SIGINT capability as my payload. The payload has 3 reception ports and 2 transmission ports and hence transceiver or ...
- 251
12
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Why do Teledesic satellites look so weird? What are these structures and where's the satellite bus?
source enlarged and sharpened
To my untrained eye I see a weird claw or flower-like antenna array with eight petals in the shape reminiscent of concave dish but not really, that look like they might ...
- 149k
4
votes
1
answer
188
views
How did Sputnik 1's antennas couple to its body, electrically and mechanically?
Looking at https://www.britannica.com/technology/satellite-communication/Development-of-satellite-communication I found the image of a model of Sputnik 1 below.
It shows details of its four rod ...
- 149k
2
votes
1
answer
181
views
Following KRT-10 aboard Salyut-6, have there been any other radio astronomy observations from a space station or crewed capsule?
Space stations have certainly been equipped with infrared, visible, ultraviolet and X-ray telescopes for astronomical observation and optical and X-ray communications as well as particle telescopes ...
- 149k
1
vote
1
answer
117
views
How were Soviet/Russian aircraft used to track and/or communicate with spacecraft?
Russian Space Web's Russian ground control and tracking network mentions
A Soviet Iluyshin-18 aircraft configured to maintain communications with spacecraft.
in the sidebar and includes the small ...
- 149k
7
votes
1
answer
221
views
Why are modern satellite ground station and deep space communications dishes with secondary mirrors almost always Cassegrain?
The simplest dish antennas have a concave reflector and their feed horns at the primary focus which is "up in the air".
That has several inconveniences, it's hard to go up there to do any ...
- 149k
1
vote
1
answer
93
views
How does Quantum change it's antenna's shape? (Flagship UK telecommunications satellite just launched)
The BBC's Quantum: Flagship UK telecommunications satellite launches includes the following:
A quarter of the world's big telecoms spacecraft are manufactured in Britain, and the new Quantum platform ...
- 149k
9
votes
2
answers
968
views
What is the pop-up circular disk with spiral pattern in this NASA animation of the Dragonfly helicopter for Titan? Antenna? Kind, band, target?
At 00:36 in the June 2019 NASA video Dragonfly: NASA's New Mission to Explore Saturn's Moon Titan the animation shows it landing then deploying a circular disk with ...
- 149k
0
votes
0
answers
40
views
Transmission and Receiving Rate of a X-Band Antenna
What would be a typical transmission and reception rate range for a X-Band Low Gain Antenna for say 300Km from an orbiter? I figured a High Gain Antenna would be difficult to use since it requires ...
3
votes
1
answer
788
views
How would I determine the power usage for a X-Band High Gain Antenna?
Currently I have that for a X-Band High Gain Antenna functioning at 8 Ghz, diameter of 3 meters, and a power transmission of 13.1dBW (20 watts) at a distance of about 8.5 AU has a Gain of 52.44 dBi, ...
3
votes
1
answer
137
views
When the Mars 2020 and Mars Science Laboratory missions were in deep space, what antennas did they have available to communicate with Earth?
This thorough answer to Did the Curiosity and Perseverance rover brains do the driving from Earth to Mars? explains that during deep space flight the rovers' computers were doing most of the thinking ...
- 149k
3
votes
0
answers
95
views
Was Dart antenna tested using a DSN antenna located in Australia?
So recently a tweet by a bot which tracks communications by the Deep Space Network stated that:
DSS 43 receiving data from Double Asteroid Redirection Test at 312.5kb/s.
IN LOCK IN LOCK 1 TURBO
11:11 ...
- 4,111
3
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Why do AST SpaceMobile satellites have antennas much larger than Starlink, whereas they both aim at providing network coverage anywhere on earth?
I read on cnbc.com (mirror):
AST drew the attention of NASA in October, when the U.S. space agency commented on the company’s FCC proposal and said AST’s “extremely large satellites” would create “an ...
- 1,164
3
votes
1
answer
273
views
What is a Beam Waveguide dish and why do deep space communications stations use them?
NASA Spaceflight.com's Deep Space Network upgrades and new antennas increase vital communication capabilities says:
NASA’s Deep Space Network, commonly referred to as the DSN, has welcomed a new dish,...
- 149k
3
votes
0
answers
83
views
What are the electrical requirements of the antennas used in Starlink?
My interest is in both the antenna for the ground segment (the "UFO on a stick") and the antennas for the space segment (phased arrays if I'm not mistaken).
I couldn't find around much more ...
- 308
6
votes
3
answers
473
views
What are the most common practical design specifications for antenna in space?
I'm writing my thesis on antennas for small satellite applications (cubesats).
Apart from the electrical specifications related to the particular application there are also several other "...
- 308
4
votes
3
answers
509
views
Has a probe ever been lost due to folding its antenna, making it unable to communicate?
I remember hearing the story of a probe on the surface of a planet (maybe Venus) that was lost due to an incredible design flaw, and I'm looking for more details.
The probe had a dish antenna, and ...
1
vote
1
answer
102
views
What radio signals have NASA transmitted to outside our solar system?
What radio signal have NASA transmitted to outside our solar system and what did they contain?
user36677
0
votes
0
answers
58
views
Antenna required to reach titan
There are two 12U cubesats, one in Earth orbit and one in orbit around Titan. They have a transmit power of 700 W (for short periods) and have identical antennas.
What diameter and what type of ...
- 1,633
3
votes
1
answer
238
views
Exchange diameter for power in parabolic antenna
If I want to reduce the diameter of a satellite dish, how much power should I add to the transmitter? how is this formula? As I have already been informed a little in this other question I asked: X-...
- 1,633
4
votes
1
answer
167
views
Alternatives to the X-Band
is there any other band that can do something similar to what the x-band does? Any that require a smaller antenna and more electrical power?
- 1,633
1
vote
2
answers
181
views
X-Band range and data
In summary I am working on a network consisting of 8 cubesat 1U that will be at an orbit altitude of 850Km. The question is that I am working on communications, the idea is that this network of ...
- 1,633
5
votes
2
answers
423
views
How do I calculate what antenna I need for my cubesat?
If I want to make a communication satellite, like MarCO, what formulas do I need to calculate the perfect antenna? Is there a difference between the X-Band and the classic UHF? If the cubesat is ...
- 1,633
1
vote
1
answer
127
views
General overview of how deep space communications performed
What frequency bands and general classes of antennas are used to communicate with deep space spacecraft?
As an example, if we place a cubesat in orbit around Io, what would the antenna need to be ...
- 1,633
2
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How do OneWeb satellites' antennas work?
The images below are of actual OneWeb satellites or models. There are two disk-like appendages and an array of linear gizmos which may be an array antenna.
Is it possible to explain how these two ...
- 149k
3
votes
1
answer
274
views
How does this large, flat antenna made from overlapping circles at Australia's Carnarvon Space Tracking Center work?
@Fred's comment links to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's How the Apollo 11 Moon landing was achieved with the vital help of Carnarvon Tracking Station which links to their Carnarvon space ...
- 149k
5
votes
1
answer
254
views
Help understanding how these components of a Honeysuckle Creek dish antenna work
@Fred's comment links to the Curious Droid video How Australia Helped Save Apollo 13 and a little after 02:15 and 03:00 it shows ...
- 149k
3
votes
2
answers
348
views
How exactly were the signals from quad dishes of Apollo Deep Space High-Gain Antenna or Russian B-529 processed for local control of tracking?
The images below (and their sources) show the quad dishes of the Apollo Deep Space High-Gain Antenna and the Russian B529 ground station tracking antenna.
From NASA Technical Note TN D-6723 Apollo ...
- 149k
3
votes
3
answers
192
views
Which deep space spacecraft had main dish antennas that were perforated or made from mesh?
A long time ago I was considering asking why the dish antennas on some deep-space probes were perforated metal or mesh (presumably to save weight), while others were solid.
I'm trying to finally ...
- 149k
10
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What antenna is this in an Apollo 15 LM photo?
The video Apollo 15 landing from PDI to Touchdown (found in Why did the Apollo 15 LM violently shake & raise dust after the contact probes touched the lunar surface?) seems to pan across a still ...
- 149k
1
vote
1
answer
126
views
How did Luna 3's pivoting antennas and ribbon antennas work?
This comment below this answer to How was it possible for the Apollo 11 to film and take pictures with such radiation? links to the svengrahn.pp.se post Luna 3 - the first view of the moon's far side.
...
- 149k
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How were the 100+ antennas around Telstar 1 and 2 configured?
Telstar 1 and 2 demonstrated routing of telephone, television and other communications types between continents.
The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum pages below contain images of the satellites. ...
- 149k
18
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How do these cubesats' whip antennas work?
This answer has identified the three 1U cubesats shown in the question, and links to Engineers Rule's Maya-1: The Philippines’ First CubeSat along with the video Animation of MAYA-1, The Philippines' ...
- 149k
7
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Why do these satellite antennas look so weird? (strangely shaped with little white dots...)
The NASA Spaceflight article Arianespace press onward with dual-passenger Ariane 5 launch shows a photo of Intelsat 39 during testing. The dish reflectors are strangely shaped:
rather than being ...
- 149k
1
vote
1
answer
399
views
Impact of having two antennas on link budget calculations
I'm working on link budget of a cubesat mission that needs to have two dipole antennas that are perpendicular to each other. I want to know if having two antennas affect the link budget? losses, and ...
- 11