ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO10216
Open Date: 07/07/2020
Closing Date: 02/10/2020 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 20.1TT.36
Prog. Ref.: CC-AT 4.0.1
Budget Ref.: E/0534-01G – CC-AT 4.0.1
Special Prov.: BE+DK+FR+DE+IT+NL+ES+SE+CH+GB+IE+AT+NO+FI+PT+GR+LU+CZ+RO+CA+HU+PL
Tender Type: C
Price Range: > 500 KEURO
Products: Satellites & Probes / RF / Microwave Communication (Platform and Payloads) / Antennas – BB / Antenna Towers and/or Reflectors
Technology Domains: Electromagnetic Technologies and Techniques / Antennas / Reflector and Lens Antennas
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate Telecom & Integrated Applica
Department: Telecom Technologies,Product&Systems Dep
Division: Technologies and Products Division
Contract Officer: Ferreol, Audrey
Industrial Policy Measure: C2 – Activities in open competition, significant partecipat…
Last Update Date: 07/07/2020
Update Reason: Tender issue

The objective of the activity is to design, manufacture and test a breadboard of an RF reflective mesh suitable for 5 to8 metre deployable antenna reflectors required for Ka-band to V-band (25 to 50 GHz) applications. Targeted Improvements: Enabling aEuropean source of Ka-band to V-band large deployable antenna reflectors. Description: High-capacity communication satellites arebased on antennas that generate multiple narrow pencil beams that exhibit a very high gain and low sidelobe levels. The generation ofsuch beams requires large reflector antennas operating at high frequencies (Ka- to V-bands). One of the critical elements is the reflecting surface, which needs to be a mesh to allow for the use of large unfurlable reflector surfaces, and needs to exhibit lowRFlosseswhen operating in Ka-band to V-band. A suitable mesh is not available from a European supplier. In order to obtain good RF reflectivity performance at such high operating frequencies, the mesh must be very dense and the type of wire, its metallic plating, the knitting patterns and other manufacturing aspects, such as the sewing used to assemble mesh parts, are critical. In this activity, an end-to-end manufacturing process will be developed. A batch of different mesh samples will designed, manufactured and experimentally evaluated. The most promising mesh will be selected and a full-size mesh, suitable for a large reflector, will be developed and tested. Procurement Policy: C2: Activities are in open competition, where a significant participation of non-LSIs is requested. For additional information please go to EMITS news „Industrial Policy measures for non-primes, SMEs and RD entities in ESA programmes”.