Theoretical and numerical studies on multi-physical issues of space parabolic membrane antennas

Front-fed parabolic reflectors are among the most commonly used antennas in the industry. While in spaceborne applications, membrane reflectors are very promising due to their lightweight and foldable features. However, considering the large size, small thickness and low stiffness, solar radiation and microwave radiation will have considerable influences on the antennas' shape accuracy as well as the radiation characteristics. In this article, a theoretical approach is presented to solve the multi-physical effects of the parabolic antenna. The deformation of the reflector is derived by the shallow shell theory, taking into account the solar pressure, the microwave pressure and the thermal effects due to solar and microwave heating. The far-field electromagnetic radiation pattern is then obtained by considering the deformation of the reflector. On the other hand, a numerical approach combining the finite element method, the multi-level fast multipole method, and the large element physical optics is also presented. Numerical examples suggest good agreement between the theoretical and numerical results. The methods have been applied into the analysis of design models in the Space Solar Power Station project. Also, these approaches can be directly extended into other space membrane reflector antennas.