MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) is the latest NASA Discovery mission managed by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. MESSENGER is a mission to orbit the least explored terrestrial planet, Mercury. MESSENGER's high-data-rate downlink will use the first electronically scanned phased-array antenna for a deep-space telecommunication application. Measured results for the lightweight phased-array antenna and the high-efficiency solid state power amplifiers (SSPAs) are presented. Two functional amplifiers within the X-band SSPAs provide output power that is scalable from 11 to 15 watts without major design changes. Five different hybrid microcircuits, including high-efficiency HFET amplifiers and MMIC phase shifters have been developed for use within the SSPAs. A highly efficient packaging approach enables the integration of a large number of hybrid circuits into a SSPA with a mass less than 450 g. The hybrids and the hermetic package are generic and are suitable for a wide range of space applications beyond the MESSENGER program.


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    Title :

    Phased-array antenna system for the MESSENGER deep space mission


    Contributors:
    Wallis, R.E. (author) / Sheng Cheng, (author)


    Publication date :

    2001-01-01


    Size :

    1072634 byte




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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