Inflatable antennas that could lower the cost of astronomical satellites are being developed and tested. In contrast with standard antennas, they are not rigid but consist of two membranes that bend under the pressure exerted by a gas introduced between them. The first membrane is transparent and takes a convex shape. The second membrane is reflecting and takes a concave shape, enabling it to collect the incident light and to focus it onto a detector. The antenna of OASIS – a far infrared satellite aimed at studying the role of water in stellar systems – will be built according to this scheme. To enable the efficient collection of light needed for high-sensitivity measurements, an antenna with a 14-meter diameter will be implemented. Aiming at the development of such a large antenna, Siddhartha Sirsi and colleagues have studied a 1-meter prototype. By combining LIDAR and deflectometry measurements with analytical and finite-element calculations, they have accurately determined how the antenna's shape changes as a function of the internal gas pressure, and they have benchmarked the different measurement and calculation approaches. The data provided are relevant for the development and monitoring of large space-based inflatable antennas.

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