SPACECRAFT INTERSATELLITE LINK FOR SATELLITE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

摘要

A superconducting millimeter wave array (10) is disclosed. In one of the preferred embodiments of the invention, the array (10) is enclosed in a cryogenic envelope (16) that has one side that is transparent to microwave radiation. A superconducting microstrip layer (24) formed on a saphire substrate (20) attached to the envelope (16) is coupled to transmit and receive circuitry via a signal waveguide (18). Each microstrip terminal (25) on the superconductor layer (24) is aligned with a slot (29) formed in a slotted ground plane (27) residing next to the superconductor layer (24). A heat reflective dielectric layer (26) is placed next to the superconducting layer (24), and is also adjacent to a layer of conductive radiating elements (30) and a layer of parasitic patches (35). Individual conductive radiating elements (31) and the parasitic patches (35) are also positioned in line with the microstrip terminals (25) and the slots (29) in the ground plane (22).