AASC completes design, fabrication, assembly, test and delivery of Deep Impact High Gain Antenna
10/17/2002
AASC delivered the High Gain Antenna assembly to Ball Aerospace after successfully completing environmental testing.
AASC designed, fabricated, assembled and tested the HGA, which will be flying on the Deep Impact satellite as part of NASA's Discovery series of satellite programs. The antenna was a build-to-spec program for AASC and is a one-meter laminate reflector. AASC's structure, which includes the 1-meter laminate dish, feed support, waveguide and shell platform, weighs less than 6 lbs and has a surface accuracy of less than 2-mil RMS.
AASC integrated the BATC feed and performed environmental testing in the full assembly configuration. This picture shows the antenna assembly in the vibration test configuration at Ball Aerospace's vibration laboratory. Mike Noyes, the antenna design engineer and program manager is shown with Bob Marshall, BATC's lead antenna engineer.
The Deep Impact antenna broke new ground in that AASC qualified a laminate reflector shell rather than a sandwich to save mass. The simple rim-stiffener laminate-shell approach also simplified the design and fabrication while providing a highly stiff and stable structure. Also breaking new ground is AASC's design for combining the function of the waveguide with one of the antenna struts. The waveguide is made with a copper interior sheathing that is continuously metallic to the copperclad flanges. AASC partnered with Custom Microwave of Boulder Colorado to develop, design and qualify this waveguide.