Metal-only modulated metasurface antenna for Cubesat platforms

This paper presents the design of a 19 cm diameter metal-only modulated metasurface (MTS) antenna with right-handed circular polarization (RHCP) at Ka-band, more precisely, in the down-link DSN frequency band. The proposed antenna topology may provide high-gains and can be easily integrated on a CubeSat's chassis. The modulated MTS consists of several thousands of sub-wavelength metallic cylinders, with elliptical cross-sections and different heights and orientations across the aperture. This type of antenna can be easily fabricated by metal additive manufacturing and avoids the problems sometimes encountered by dielectrics in space.