Space premiere also for the innovative BANT-1 reflector antenna from HPS
On January 14, 2025, “SIGI”, the first satellite from the NextSpace company Reflex Aerospace, Berlin/Munich, was launched on board a Falcon 9 – Rideshare Mission Transporter-12. “NextSpace” is the term legally reserved for exclusive use by Reflex to describe the new speed in the development, production and provision of space technology, coupled with innovative versatility as a leitmotif for the performance of the product.
To a large extent, this also applied to an essential element of the satellite not manufactured by Reflex: the core broadband reflector antenna developed by HPS from the medium-sized space technology company HPS GmbH (Munich, Germany) with a cavity-backed spiral antenna as an axial feed for a wide bandwidth and considerable gain – and all that from order to delivery in just 12 months.
HPS congratulates Reflex Aerospace on the first launch of one of its products and looks forward to working with them on further NextSpace challenges in space.
Pictures by SpaceX
Antenna specialist HPS conquers new territory in RF applications with verification of innovative 3D production
Even formerly very sceptical augurs of space travel now agree that the ability to largely automate the series production of lightweight components while minimizing raw materials and ensuring maximum reliability will have a significant impact on the future development of applicable technologies.
However, the central prerequisite for the implementation of such visions is still a very classic step-by-step verification, in this case of two materials selected by the HPS engineers using the new ESA standard ECSS-Q-ST-70-80C.
Given the future potential of such technology, the European and German space agencies have a primary interest in the success of the research at HPS and provided GSTP funding for the 3DPAN2 project: “3D-Printed Antenna 2” is a follow-up project to 3DPAN, which was completed five years ago and initially demonstrated the feasibility in principle of 3D-printed RF components.
The product objective was an extremely lightweight X-band antenna with a diameter of ~30cm for the data downlink of earth observation satellites. It was finally manufactured from the aluminum alloy SCALMALLOY at the sub-contractor APWORKS GmbH in Ottobrunn. In addition, a filigree feed support bracket made of titanium was manufactured for fold-out antennas by the long-standing HPS trusted partner, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS, Dresden, as a subcontractor.
Meanwhile, the respective designs and FE analyses, as well as their iterative optimization, were carried out by HPS in Munich itself.
The final tests delivered positive results that exceeded all expectations. This applied in particular to the RF performance of the X-band antenna in the Compensated Compact Range (Munich University of Applied Science MUAS). Resistance to vibration (sine + random) was also successfully demonstrated for both demonstrators at SGS GmbH, Geretsried: here too, everything went without complications, i.e. above all without damage or deformation. Even a final TVAC test (10 cycles between +120°C and – 120°C) showed no cracks or deformations on the demonstrators.
Olaf Stolz, the responsible project manager at HPS, summed up the project as follows: “The objectives of the verification processes were achieved without any restrictions: the additively manufactured demonstrators were 20% and 25% lighter than corresponding conventionally manufactured components – a well-known enormous advantage in space travel. There were no restrictions on qualification for space applications. We would like to thank our cooperation partners, especially Dr. Samira Gruber (Fraunhofer IWS) and Mr. Nicklas Schwab (APWORKS) for the extremely good and successful cooperation in the project, as well as ESA, in particular Ms. Isabel Olaya Leon, Technical Officer of the 3DPAN2 project.
HPS CEO Ernst K. Pfeiffer is delighted: “It is fantastic that we are already implementing 3D printed components with the technology results of the ESA GSTP program in current flight projects. A goal that we set 8 years ago and that is essential for the future market has now been achieved.”
Producing antennas in series
For over 20 years, the Munich-based space technology company HPS has been known for breaking new ground wherever possible and establishing an increasingly solid bridge between ClassicSpace and CommercialSpace with innovations of all kinds. This applies to products such as deployable antennas of all sizes through to processes such as the series production of the deorbit sail module product family (ADEO).
With the implementation of a further process innovation, HPS is now also realizing new efficiency horizons in the antenna sector, because a commercial customer is in a hurry: more than 20 broadband antennas are needed, in a period of less than only 12 months, starting NOW. HPS is already known from a large number of successfully completed antenna orders – whether from the institutional or commercial sector – for the routine of quality production at a consistently high level that is valued by customers. But now, with the start of small series production, the company is heralding the introduction of a further development stage in the process of merging the quality features of conventional and new space technology into something new and even better. And despite all the high pressure, with the power that comes from calm.
