A new class of orbiting very large ultra-light orientable mw antennas in low earth orbits
The purpose of the following proposal is to create a new class of antennas of low weight but with a large transmitting and receiving surface made of metallized fabric. This class of antennas will be stationed in low satellite orbits, at about 2000 km from sea level and will be easily steerable by exploiting the interaction between the earth's magnetic field and an electromagnetic field generated on the antenna. The possibility of orienting very large ultra-light balloon-like MW antennas, orbiting in the Earth magnetic field, through electric currents flowing in conductive wires embedded in the antennas walls, are examined. It is shown that such currents may easily provide the needed forces without the necessity of mechanically orienting the antenna itself. The antenna is extremely light, inexpensive, easily directional. The antenna has the shape of a spheroid in which the southern hemisphere has a parabolic shape made of metallized fabric; the northern hemisphere, transparent to the electromagnetic radiation, has a radius of curvature such that the north pole coincides with the focus of the parabola.