Space Antenna Handbook

Chapter 7

Historical Overview of the Development of Space Antennas

Antoine G. Roederer

Delft University of Technology – IRCTR The Netherlands

7.1 Introduction

Based on the application of Maxwell's theory and equations (1873), antennas were first materialized by Hertz in 1887.

When Sputnik I was launched on 4 October 1957, antenna development had been under way for 70 years, driven by communications, broadcasting, radio astronomy and, since the Second World War, also by radar.

In the 1960s, theories and various implementations of the main types of antennas presently used on board spacecraft, such as wire antennas, reflector/lens antennas and array antennas, were already described in textbooks [1–4]. Since then, the specific requirements of evermore challenging space missions, together with the special environment conditions of launchers and space environment, have led to the development for space use of a new branch in the family of antennas. This has driven major innovations and progress in antenna modelling, optimization, beam forming, architectures, technologies and test techniques which have been beneficial to the entire antenna engineering community.

In this chapter, antennas will be essentially classified in three categories:

1. Low-gain TT&C (Telemetry, Tracking & Command) antennas. They were the only antennas on the first generation of low Earth orbit satellites for which simple wire and horn antennas were used to command the satellites, monitor their parameters from the ...