Session: 01-12-03: Spacecraft Structures 3

Paper Number: 162010

162010 - On the Design of Metamaterial-Based Space Rf Antenna Structures With Enhanced Thermo-Mechanical Precision 

State-of-the-art space structures are traditionally manufactured as deployable systems, a process that involves fabrication on Earth, thorough testing, stowing in a launch vehicle, and subsequent deployment in space. While this design approach is viable, it is not particularly efficient; it primarily focuses on minimizing stowed volumes and enduring launch loads that can exceed ten times Earth’s gravity. In this context, Astromesh represents a deployable medium-sized antenna reflector that has been under investigation and development for several decades. The Novel Orbital Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass-Efficient Design (NOM4D) program, initiated by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), aims to revolutionize this process. It seeks to design, manufacture, and assemble structures in space, utilizing novel materials and metamaterial design concepts that expand the horizons of space technology. In this new paradigm, the current work presents innovative structural design concepts for mass-efficient and high-precision large-aperture RF antennas that can be manufactured in space, effectively addressing the challenges associated with traditional launch loads and deployability. To achieve this, a form-finding approach is adopted to identify the optimal design of the netband, which supports the reflective mesh of the antenna. The netband is tensioned and reinforced via eight optimized truss spokes, which enhance the coupled truss-netband system's precision and mass efficiency. Furthermore, zero thermal extension metamaterial structural elements are developed and integrated into the RF antenna truss design to improve its thermomechanical precision. Following the numerical validation of the different design concepts, the RF antenna design and its substructural components are prototyped and subjected to static, dynamic, and thermomechanical testing to assess their performance metrics.

Presenting Author: Othman Oudghiri-Idrissi The University of Texas at Austin

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. Othman Oudghiri-Idrissi is an Assistant Professor in the Fariborz Maseeh Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Oudghiri-Idrissi’s research interest spans various fields, including in-space assembly and manufacturing (ISAM), mechanical metamaterials, wave mechanics, homogenization, and inverse problems. At UT Austin, his current research focuses on designing and developing in-space manufacturable structures, particularly for the lunar infrastructure.

Dr. Oudghiri-Idrissi earned a Diploma in Civil Engineering (Diplôme d’Ingénieur) from the Hassania School of Public Works, Morocco, and an M.Sc. in Geotechnical Engineering from École des Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, France, in 2016. He received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in 2022.