Exploring "Textile Intelligence": "Star-borne Antenna Metal Net" for Beidou Navigation

July 13, 2023

At 0:22 on August 6, China successfully launched the Tiantong No.1 01 star with the Long March 3B carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. This is the first star of China's satellite mobile communication system and is known as the "China Edition". The successful launch of the maritime satellite marks China’s entry into the “mobile phone era” of satellite mobile communications. The satellite's large antenna uses the metal mesh developed and produced by the research team of Donghua University, which shows the indispensable power of Feitian Hi-Tech in the “textile wisdom”.

How can a small metal net help satellites fly? What is the connection between this and textile? The answer is: textile wisdom.

In the laboratory of the Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education and Textiles of Donghua University, there is a special umbrella: it does not block rain or shade, and a thin yellow metal mesh is supported on the special rib. It has played a vital role in China's Beidou navigation satellites, mobile communication satellites and other series of satellites. It not only created the history of China's satellites using independent research and development of metal mesh antennas, but also played a milestone in the localization process of flexible antenna key products. The role of the style has laid a solid foundation for the smooth application of domestic metal mesh in orbit. Its scientific name is “Star-borne Antenna Metal Network”, and it is the team of Professor Chen Nanliang from the Textile College of Donghua University who has successfully promoted the launch of “Tiangong No.1”.

1 small net weaving satellite flying technology

The Beidou satellite navigation system is a global satellite navigation system independently developed and operated by China. It is also known as the world's four major satellite navigation systems with GPS in the United States, GLONASS in Russia, and Galileo in the European Union . At present, China has successfully launched 23 Beidou navigation satellites. These satellites like so many chess pieces, precision distributed in different orbits Earth, providing high-quality communications services for China and the rest of the world users.

The metal mesh is the key component of the satellite antenna to reflect electromagnetic waves and the basic material of the spaceborne mesh antenna. For a long time, China's spaceborne antenna metal mesh mainly relies on imports . Since 2008, Professor Chen Nanliang and the relevant research institutes have joined hands to embark on a breakthrough in the national space mission.

In the past, most of the satellite-borne antennas were made of traditional metal materials such as aluminum alloy, which were heavy and hard, which was not conducive to the flexible retraction of satellite antennas in space. Is there a material that makes satellite antennas both lightweight and stable? After repeated trials, the research team found that the gold-plated molybdenum wire material has high strength, low thermal expansion coefficient, non-breaking, high reflectivity, etc. It is an excellent choice for making space-expandable mesh antenna reflectors, but it should be It is not simple to make a metal mesh. It must be tough and tolerant of the external force of the launching flight. It must be soft and can be edited and easily stored in space. In order to achieve "rigid and soft", we have to mention textile warp knitting technology.

2 textile warp knitting technology

Textiles are usually latitude and longitude cross-sections, while warp knitting is like knitting a sweater to bend the yarn into a loop to form a fabric. Warp knitting technology is more practical than other production techniques when producing mesh fabrics. The mesh fabrics produced can be of different sizes and shapes, and without any special finishing, the shape of the fabric can be made stable and firm by its own structure. This is perfect for satellites that "survive" in the harsh environment of space.

After long-term unremitting research, Professor Chen's team used ultra-fine wire strands and warp knitting technology to achieve a technological breakthrough in the twisting of extremely thin gold-plated molybdenum wire fibers with only a quarter of the hair, and also innovative design and manufacture. Dedicated parallel, warping and warp knitting equipment and a full set of production processes. According to the team, this series of technology and process breakthroughs not only successfully realized the satellite antenna metal mesh "soft and soft", but also made this "big umbrella" lose more than 90%, and is easy to carry and large size. The high-power communication of Beidou navigation satellites and mobile communication satellites has benefited from this. After painstaking exploration and experimentation, the problems related to the Beidou satellite antenna metal network were finally overcome, and the “big single” of the mobile communication satellite also followed. The team's research and development of the satellite antenna metal network opened the journey of large-scale production.

Taking Professor Chen Nanliang's team as an example, in 2011, the team developed the excellent energy-powered wings of the “Tiangong No.1” by virtue of the development of semi-rigid glass fiber mesh materials. Nowadays, the satellite antenna network has played a milestone in promoting the localization of key products of satellite flexible antennas. It is reported that the team is currently working closely with the relevant national aerospace related departments to undertake the relevant scientific research and production tasks of the "Tiangong-2" and "Tianzhou" series of cargo ships. The first-class textile science and engineering disciplines owned by Donghua University are also quietly transforming and upgrading the “magnificent turn” in the national innovation-driven reform wave.

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Ms. Zoe Zhong

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