The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 04, 2020
Filed:
Jul. 19, 2017
Space Systems/loral, Llc, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Jude Zils, Santa Cruz, CA (US);
Daniel Andrew Fluitt, San Jose, CA (US);
Carey Graham Hijmans, Morgan Hill, CA (US);
Douglas William Dietz, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Space Systems/Loral, LLC, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A spacecraft includes a main body structure and a plurality of deployable modular reflector elements, the spacecraft being reconfigurable from a launch configuration to an on-orbit configuration. In the launch configuration, the modular reflector elements are disposed in a storage system that includes an arrangement for supporting the modular reflector elements with respect to dynamic launch loads. In the on-orbit configuration, in some implementations, an assembly of the plurality of modular reflector elements forms a large-aperture, offset fed, reflector, the reflector being coupled with a boom or yoke with the main body structure by way of a two or three axis positioning mechanism configured to steer the reflector with respect to the main body structure. In some implementations, in the on-orbit configuration, the plurality of modular reflector elements are assembled to form a large aperture reflective surface that is self-supporting.