ESA selects TICRA to develop a deployable reflectarray for CubeSat applications with In-Orbit Demonstration

TICRA has, together with GOMSpace as sub-contractor, been selected by ESA to develop a flight representative reflectarray for CubeSat applications.

Small satellites such as CubeSats have seen a significant growth over the past decade and have emerged as a viable complement to traditional large satellite technology for many applications. For these applications, high-gain antennas on-board the CubeSats are needed and deployable reflectarrays are believed to offer excellent performance along with significant size and cost reductions.

Currently, only non-European institutions have successfully launched reflectarrays into space. The objective of this activity is to develop a deployable passive reflectarray for CubeSats that is targeted for In-Orbit Demonstration. This development will improve the European capabilities within reflectarrays and is an important step to have a European reflectarray in orbit.

TICRA will be responsible for all radio frequency (RF) related tasks in this activity. This includes the design and analysis of the reflectarray and its associated feed as well as the RF testing of the entire antenna. Once the project is complete, TICRA will be one of the few companies in the world able to provide complete reflectarray solutions for CubeSat applications.

The project is expected to be completed in 2019. For more information about the project, contact Erik Jørgensen (CTO) or Min Zhou (Product Lead, Periodic Structures).