|
 |
L‘Garde Programs - Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE) - The Canopy
 |
This is a view of the antenna with the
torus mounted to it. The antenna is approximately 46 feet
in diameter and the torus is about 50 feet in diameter.
Notice man with the red shirt standing to the right of
the antenna. The concave side of the antenna is made of
metalized mylar and the opposite side is made of clear
mylar. The torus is inflated to a very high 3 PSI. The
torus is made of neoprene coated kevlar. In this photo,
the accuracy of the torus shape is being verified by
floating it on a bath of water.
|
L‘Garde Programs - Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE) -The Strut
 |
This photo shows the strut being inspected in a small
buoyancy chamber. The diameter of the strut is 14 inches
and its length is approximately 92 feet. A normal
inflatable antenna would have much shorter struts. The
IAE has long struts so the canister can be positioned at
the antenna's center of curvature rather than at its
focus point. |
L‘Garde Programs - Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE) -The Folded Strut
 |
The strut is 14 inches in diameter and 95 feet long. When packaged, it folds to about 13 inches high. The red spools are holding some of the instrumentation wires that run up the side of the strut. |
Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE) - The Lid Open
 |
This shows the IAE top lid open but the
other three doors closed. The large silver mass is the
inflatable. The dark area on the top lid is one half of
the light panels. The cameras are not visible here
because they are buried beneath the inflatable. The three
boxes protruding to the bottom left, and right of the
picture are the containers that hold the folded struts. |
Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE) -- The Light Panel
 |
Here are several of the key electronic components of the IAE. Most prominent is the light panel with its approximately 530 indiviually-addressable light clusters. Each cluster is comprised of 36 AlGaAs light emitting diodes. There is a total of about 19,000 LEDs on the IAE light panel assembly.
On the table from the left are pictured:
IAE electronics test set, three deck VCR (partially obscured in rear), control unit (silver box a computer and analog signal conditioner), and switching unit (silver box that fires electroexplosive devices and operates solenoids.) |
Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE) -- The Inflation Panel
 |
This is the inflation panel. The inflation panel holds most of the pneumatics of the system. This is all that remains of the L'Garde-supplied portion of experiment when it is recovered by the shuttle. Most of the panel is covered with multi-layer insulation (MLI) because at the end of the mission the antenna and much of the box is jettisoned leaving this panel exposed to space. The three television cameras are clearly visible in the center of the panel. Along the bottom edge from left you can see a 3000 PSI nitrogen bottle, the control unit, the switching unit, and another 3000 PSI bottle. |
Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE) -- TEAM MEMBERS
 |
The IAE's development team at L'Garde. From left: Gordon Veal, Michael Friese, Geoff Williams, Andre Bullock, Dr. Art Palisoc, David Friese, Dave Phillips, Dave Ellis-Anwyl, David Brandt, Yuli Huang, Steve Dalbey, Roger Garrett, Cor Van Overeem, Jeff Titchenal, Carlos Rios, Gayle Bilyeu. |
|
|
