NORsat-2 in space deploying its antenna. (Credit: Space Norway AS)
Radio amateurs Sean Hum VA3SHV and Jeff Nicholls VA3NGJ worked on the design for a deployable VHF crossed Yagi antenna on the recently launched NORsat-2.
The very high frequency (VHF) antenna was designed to unfold from the CubeSat after receiving a command from the Norwegian Space Center to deploy once in orbit. “This antenna is a completely new type of deployable antenna — it unfolds to be more than three times as large as the satellite that took it into orbit,” says Hum. “This is the first time that a deployable antenna of this type has been contemplated and successfully used as a main mission antenna for a CubeSat.”
On July 20, cameras on board the CubeSat confirmed the successful deployment of the antenna.
Read the full story at http://news.engineering.utoronto.ca/u-t-engineering-designed-cubesats-novel-deployable-antenna-launched-orbit/