NASA - GATR Emergency Communications in Two Suitcases

When you leave your cell phone at home, you probably get nervous. What if something happens and you need to make a phone call?

Even a quick trip to the grocery store can make you feel vulnerable. But when astronauts go into space, ready communication is a vital need. No one will ever go to Mars, or even low-Earth orbit without reliable and efficient communication technology.

One device currently under development for space communication is the inflatable antenna. Because it is lightweight, easy to deploy, inexpensive, and requires low storage volume, inflatable technology is extremely attractive for space applications.

In 1997, Glenn Research Center awarded ManTech SRS Technologies, of Newport Beach, California, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding to develop an inflatable solar concentrator for power generation.

It soon became evident that the same basic technology for solar concentrators was applicable for large inflatable antennas, and follow-on SBIR funding focused on developing inflatable antennas for space communication.

Paul Gierow, one of the engineers with SRS at the time, explains, “To make a solar concentrator, you point it at the Sun and focus the energy. The antenna is exactly the same thing, but instead of focusing it on the Sun, you point it at a satellite that is radiating radio frequency energy,” says Gierow.

With the help of SBIR funding, SRS modified the concepts and processes for ground-based inflatable antennas. “We came up with an idea to put an antenna in a ball, or sphere. Intuitively you don’t think it will work, but it did,” says Gierow.

In 2004, GATR (an acronym for “Ground Antenna Transmit and Receive”) Technologies, of Huntsville, Alabama, licensed the technology from SRS. GATR refined the product further, which led to a ground-based satellite communications system.

NASA - Emergency Communications in Two Suitcases