PLANET-A spacecraft antenna system
Abstract
The antenna system of the Japanese PLANET-A and MS-T5 interplanetary spacecraft (to be launched in 1985 for rendezvous with Halley's comet) is described and illustrated with drawings, photographs, and graphs of performance data. The spacecraft and their communications systems are briefly characterized, and the antenna-system design requirements are outlined. The system comprises a low-gain (-3 dBi) cross-dipole/reflector antenna for use in the early portion of the mission, a medium-gain (5.5 dBi transmit and 5 dBi receive) three-element half-wavelength-vertical-dipole colinear broadside array for command reception, a one-channel-transmission rotary joint, and a high-gain (23.1 dBi transmit and 21.5 dBi receive) 800-mm-aperture-diameter 45-deg-offset-angle 400-mm-focal-length parabolic antenna with 0.2-deg pointing accuracy for data transmission, range and range-rate measurements, and command reception.
- Publication:
-
Lausanne International Astronautical Federation Congress
- Pub Date:
- October 1984
- Bibcode:
- 1984laus.iafcU....N
- Keywords:
-
- Antenna Design;
- Antenna Radiation Patterns;
- Interplanetary Spacecraft;
- Japanese Spacecraft;
- Spacecraft Antennas;
- Dipole Antennas;
- Downlinking;
- Halley'S Comet;
- Horn Antennas;
- Space Communications, Spacecraft Communications, Command and Tracking