MMA Space Delivers Crossed Dipole Deployable Antenna and Largest CubeSat Solar Array Ever for DoD Mission

MMA Space has developed, manufactured and delivered to our customer a UHF/VLF crossed Dipole antenna in combination with a highpower solar array wing in support of a 24U DoD CubeSat program.

The antenna stows in a 2U x 2U form factor and deploys two orthogonal dipoles to 5-meter lengths (tip-to-tip). The deployment of both dipoles is driven by a single motor-driven gear train and MMA's radiation tolerant Deployment Control Unit (DCU) electronics. Ground testing has demonstrated outstanding electrical performance of the antenna conductive elements.

The solar array delivers 330W from a single deployed wing. A novel, controlled deployment sequence is used to achieve the 9-panel active surface, maximizing power output over a single wing. 330W is roughly 50% more power than MMA's heritage high-power CubeSat array for 2-wing systems. This is, to our knowledge, the largest deployable solar array of its kind ever to fly on a CubeSat.