Development of long deployable dipole antennas for Sounder Radars in ThalesAleniaSpace-Italia

Scope of this work is to highlight the heritage dev eloped by ThalesAleniaSpace-Italia (TASI) in HF deployable dipoles for Radar Sounders applications. The RF experience acquired by TAS-I in the frame of the SHARAD P/L (SHAllow RADar PayLoad) provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) as a facility instrument for the 2005 NASA mission to Mars called MRO (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) was complemented within the ESA study named HILDRA (Highly Integrated Low power ice penetrating Deployable Radar Antenna), by exploiting the technology relevant to the deployable dipole. This ESA study entails the design and the development and verification of a technology demonstrator for a highly integrated low power ice penetrating Radar Antenna, targeting the next European and US deep space missions within Horizon 2020 program. The paper summarises the technological development activity experienced by TAS-I including trade-off and design capabilities both at system and at unit level for electrical and technology aspects, includ ing the test campaign carried out over the demonstrator. Main objective of the Demonstration Model (DM) was to exhibit by test the deployment performance of the selected technology, as the deployment of the long dipole was recognised a critical issue for the feasibility of the JUICE (JUpiter ICy Moon Explorer) mission.