Lightweight Circular Polarized Antenna for Small Satellite Missions

Lightweight Circularly Polarized Antennas: A New Signal Transmission Tool for Small Satellite Missions

Amid the booming commercial space industry, small satellites, with their compact size, low cost, and flexible deployment, are becoming a key enabler for missions such as low-orbit communication constellations, remote sensing observation, and deep space exploration. Signal transmission, the lifeline for small satellites to communicate with the ground, directly determines mission success or failure. Lightweight circularly polarized antennas are crucial for addressing the challenges of small satellites operating in complex environments and stable transmission.

Core Advantages: "Lightweight + High Reliability" for Small Satellites

Extreme Lightweight Frees Up Payload Space

Realizing on the critical nature of small satellites, where every gram saved counts, the antenna utilizes a novel composite material and an integrated design, reducing weight by over 30% compared to traditional metal antennas. The smallest model can weigh as little as 50g, equivalent to the weight of an egg. Requiring no additional load-bearing structures, it can be easily integrated into small platforms such as CubeSats and micro-nanosatellites, freeing up space for payloads such as remote sensing cameras and scientific exploration modules.
Circularly polarized transmission maximizes anti-interference capabilities. Small satellites face complex electromagnetic environments in orbit, including ionospheric scintillation, multipath reflection, and solar radiation. Traditional linearly polarized antennas are susceptible to signal attenuation and phase distortion. Circularly polarized antennas, however, effectively counteract multipath interference and polarization mismatch through their rotating electric field characteristics. This improves satellite-to-ground link signal reception sensitivity by 2-3dB, enabling stable data transmission even in high-interference environments in low-Earth orbits, ensuring the complete transmission of remote sensing images and scientific data.
Wideband adaptability + high gain covers multiple mission scenarios. The antenna operates in the L/S/C/X bands commonly used by small satellites (1-18 GHz), supporting wideband operation (up to 20% relative bandwidth), adapting to various missions such as communications, navigation, and remote sensing without antenna replacement. Furthermore, by optimizing the layout of radiating elements, high gain performance of 5-12dBi is achieved, extending signal transmission distance at the same power level. This enables small satellites to achieve longer-range deep space exploration (such as for small satellites exploring the Moon and Mars) or wider-range low-Earth orbit constellation communications. Typical Applications: Enabling Small Satellites for All-Scenario Missions
Low-Earth Orbit Communication Constellations: Small satellite constellations deployed in large quantities require efficient networking and communication. Lightweight circularly polarized antennas enable stable bidirectional transmission between satellites and between satellites and the Earth. Their lightweight design reduces launch costs and facilitates rapid constellation networking.
High-Resolution Remote Sensing Satellites: Remote sensing data volumes are large and require high-speed transmission. The antenna's high gain and anti-interference capabilities ensure rapid transmission of high-definition images, preventing data loss.
Deep-Space Exploration Microsatellites: For lunar and asteroid exploration missions, the antenna's wideband adaptability and stable transmission capabilities enable reliable links in the complex environments of deep space, providing data support for scientific exploration.
Integration and Customization: Meeting the Individual Needs of Small Satellites
Customized designs are available based on the platform size, mission frequency band, and mounting method (e.g., onboard, external, or deployable). Temperature compensation modules can be integrated to accommodate on-orbit temperature fluctuations of -40°C to 85°C. The antenna is resistant to radiation and vibration, and has passed space-grade environmental testing (e.g., mechanical vibration and thermal vacuum testing) to meet the requirements for long-life on-orbit operation of small satellites. From near-Earth observations with CubeSats to deep-space exploration with microsatellites, lightweight circularly polarized antennas, with their core advantages of "lightness, stability, and strength," have become the optimal solution for signal transmission for small satellite missions. As small satellites evolve toward multi-mission, high-integration, and long-life capabilities, this antenna will continue to undergo iterations and upgrades, building a more stable "bridge between space and earth" for commercial spaceflight and scientific exploration.