EOSOL Aerospace develops omnidirectional antenna for ESA's A4UC project

EOSOL Aerospace continues to work on the development of antennas and connectivity solutions that enable lunar exploration.

It's not the Moon, but almost... measurements performed in a real scenario guarantee the good performance of the 2.4 GHz antenna and a complete communications system.

Within the A4UC (Antennas for Underground Communications) project of the European Space Agency (ESA), led by the University of Oviedo and in collaboration with the University of Vigo, EOSOL Aerospace has developed the 2.4GHz omnidirectional antenna for the communications module. The antenna, together with the radome that protects it from the harsh lunar environment, has been manufactured and validated up to TRL6.

The antenna has electrical characteristics, which make it very interesting to communicate lunar assets such as rovers with the base stations located on the moon (for example in the future European Lander Argonaut). Among its main features are an omnidirectional radiation pattern and circular polarization for 360º communication regardless of its orientation and operation in the 2.4GHz band, one of the bands that are being considered as of greatest interest for future lunar communications. In addition, work has also been done on the mechanical design, in order to develop a very light antenna (less than 120 grams including the radome), but at the same time capable of surviving the extreme conditions of the lunar environment.

After the antenna qualification campaign. Last week the project team formed by the University of Oviedo, the University of Vigo and EOSOL, together with personnel from the European Space Agency (ESA) carried out a test campaign in the volcanic tube of La Corona, in the Canary Islands (Spain), simulating a lunar environment. The results obtained were satisfactory and have allowed validation of the complete communications system.

Within the project, work has not only been carried out on the development of the aforementioned antenna. The teams formed by the University of Oviedo and the University of Vigo have worked on the development and integration of a complete communication module and its validation in an environment similar to that found in lunar caves. The device has allowed to deploy a complete communication link obtaining optimal link results.

EOSOL Aerospace continues to develop new antenna solutions in both S-band and C-band for lunar connectivity.

The moon is waiting for us!

About EOSOL Group

The EOSOL Group is a global engineering, supervision and technical support services company. With experience in more than 45 countries around the world, we operate in the strategic sectors of energy, industry, automotive, construction-infrastructure, telecommunications, aerospace and defense.

The Aerospace division develops antennas, feeders and RF components for the space, defense and scientific sectors. We provide our customers and partners with reliable, high-performance antenna and feed solutions in the sectors we cover. The division covers all tasks related to the study and implementation of antennas, feeds and RF components (feasibility study, detailed design, prototyping, qualification and production).

About the University of Oviedo

The University of Oviedo has extensive experience in carrying out R&D projects funded by national and international public agencies and industry. The University of Oviedo has participated in the project “RoboCrane for wireless power and data transmission between surface and cave” and in the “Lunar Caves CDF study”. Robocrane was selected, along with four other ideas, from the Sysnova Lunar Caves Challenge and was funded in May 2020. Two of the selected teams, Robocrane and Daedalus were integrated into the ESA Lunar Caves CDF study as external consortia.

About the University of Vigo

The University of Vigo has participated in several projects in the development of space missions with small satellites and, in recent years, also in lunar exploration technologies. The Aerospace Technologies Research Group and the COM Group, both belonging to the AtlanTTic research center, have provided systems engineering in lunar missions for the European Space Agency, as well as validation of subsystems and adaptation to space conditions. This allows the resistance to all kinds of environments, from the vibrations experienced by the equipment inside rockets to the qualification in thermo-vacuum conditions, as well as the thermal analysis of these subsystems, both in lunar missions and in the example of the antenna developed in the project “Antennas for Underground Communications” of the ESA, as well as in small satellites.