IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine - July 2020 - 45

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the history of space phased array antennas; discuss their
structural features, performance requirements, and applications; illustrate the state of the art of antenna structure; analyze the key structure technologies; and discuss the future
research directions of space phased array antennas.

DEVELOPMENT HISTORY OF SPACE ACTIVE PHASED
ARRAY ANTENNAS
In June 1978, NASA successfully launched the marine satellite SEASAT-1, which contained the first active phased array
antenna in the world [6]. This promoted deployable active
phased array antennas to a prominent area of research in the
field of aerospace. Since then, many countries have prioritized spaceborne active phased array antennas [7], [8]. In the
late 1990s, the satellites equipped with active phased array
antennas developed rapidly. The United States, Russia, and
European Space Agency (which includes Germany, the
U.K., France, Italy, and other 12 member countries)
launched their own satellites equipped with active phased
array antennas [9]-[12]. Other countries such as Canada,
Japan, India, South Korea, Argentina, and China have also
done the same [13]-[16]. The main space active phased
array antennas that have been launched are shown in
Figure 1. The rest of this section discusses them in detail.

UNITED STATES
At present, the United States is the most advanced country in
the world in the field of spaceborne deployable active phased
array antennas. Based on the success of SEASAT-1, NASA
JULY 2020

sent SIR-A to space via the Columbia space shuttle on
November 12, 1981. SIR-A was an HH-polarized L-band
microstrip synthetic aperture radar (SAR) [17]. The antenna
with an inclination angle of 47 was mounted on the backup
frame through the use of seven honeycomb panels.
On October 5, 1984, SIR-B was sent to space via the
Challenger Space Shuttle. It was an HH-polarized L-band
microstrip SAR [18] as well, which is a crucial system of
OSTA-3.
SIR-C/X-SAR was developed on the basis of SIR-A
and SIR-B [19], which was sent to space by NASA in
April 1994. The C-band and L-band adopted microstrip
antennas, while the X-band adopted slotted waveguide
antennas. The C-band antennas were equipped with 504
transmitting/receiving (T/R) modules installed on a total
of 18 panels. The peak power of each T/R module was 12
W. At the same time, the L-band antennas were equipped
with 252 T/R modules installed on 18 panels. The peak
power of each of these modules was 40 W.
In April 1983, the United States launched the first
tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS) using the Challenger Space Shuttle. This satellite adopted the Ka-band
single-beam helical array antenna with a total number of
240 active units, which could scan across an angle of
Æ13.5 . The S-band multibeam phased array antenna elements of the second-generation TDRS in the United States
were microstrip patch antennas. In addition, the transmission array and the receiving array were separated. Meanwhile, the method of beamforming was changed from the
ground formation to the satellite formation. Multibeam
could be realized by analogue technology. The total number of the receiving link antenna units was 32.

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IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine - July 2020

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