What is the connection between heaven and earth for China's world's first high orbit satellite, with an area close to a basketball court? Weaving key materials for antennas: Feitian | Antenna | Connection
What is the first high orbit satellite connected by heaven and earth? After its large circular antenna is deployed, it is the size of a basketball court. The National Space Administration (NASA) recently announced that China has successfully launched the world's first high orbit synthetic aperture radar satellite, the Land Exploration 4 01 satellite. Its large circular synthetic aperture radar antenna has been successfully launched, and the satellite has officially started working.
Jiefang Daily's Shangguan News reporter learned that Donghua University in Shanghai is escorting the "land exploration" satellite into space. Professor Chen Nanliang's team from the Textile College has innovatively developed the "micro tension" weaving technology of ultra-fine metal monofilament mesh fabric, which has woven a new type of ultra light reflective surface material for large deployable satellite antennas, once again successfully serving the national aerospace industry.
![What is the connection between heaven and earth for China's world's first high orbit satellite, with an area close to a basketball court? Weaving key materials for antennas: Feitian | Antenna | Connection](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/7fa64f2dabe20934027fdba27f986d77.png)
As the world's first high orbit SAR satellite to enter the engineering implementation stage, the Land Exploration No. 4 01 satellite "stands tall and sees wide", with a single imaging coverage area of nearly 1/6 of China, and combines census mode and fine mode - not only can it see wide, see fine, and stare, but also can see quickly and with higher resolution, making it "small and fine". It can comprehensively consider multiple disaster situations and support monitoring needs in the event of multiple disasters occurring simultaneously with its emergency mode.
Experts introduce that this satellite has innovatively broken through multiple key technologies and can provide all-weather and all-time observation of China's local and surrounding areas, serving disaster prevention and reduction, earthquake monitoring, land and resource exploration, as well as the application needs of industries such as ocean, water conservancy, meteorology, agriculture, environmental protection, and forestry. It is currently the most widely used remote sensing satellite in China's industry. After being put into use, China will further improve its space-based disaster monitoring system, enrich observation methods in key regions, and comprehensively enhance the comprehensive level of disaster prevention, reduction, and relief in China.
![What is the connection between heaven and earth for China's world's first high orbit satellite, with an area close to a basketball court? Weaving key materials for antennas: Feitian | Antenna | Connection](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/671c81637f63d7ee2469964fab520093.png)
How can high orbit satellites not only see widely and finely in the vast universe, but also see quickly and clearly? The development of satellite antennas is crucial. Antennas should not only be lightweight and convenient for satellites to carry and take off, but also have a large aperture to meet signal reception needs. They should also have a certain strength to ensure the survival of satellites in harsh space environments.
It is reported that the Land Exploration No. 4 01 satellite is equipped with a large-diameter circular deployment reflector, which is currently the largest antenna in China, with the most complex structure, the most deployment stages, and the longest development cycle. In order to make it possess the seemingly incompatible characteristics of "light", "large", and "strong", Professor Chen Nanliang's team from Donghua Textile University has taken on this "hard bone".
![What is the connection between heaven and earth for China's world's first high orbit satellite, with an area close to a basketball court? Weaving key materials for antennas: Feitian | Antenna | Connection](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/7864421dc69c194604092f05d571d7e8.jpg)
On the basis of previous research, they innovatively developed the "micro tension" weaving technology of ultra-fine metal single wire mesh fabric, providing a new type of ultra light reflective surface material for the large deployable antenna of the satellite. Professor Jiang Jinhua, the backbone of the team, introduced that the metal mesh used for spaceborne antennas on satellites such as Beidou was made of metal molybdenum wire. The ultra-fine metal molybdenum wire is soft, but the strength is not enough. Usually, parallel wire bonding is used to improve the overall strength. In order to further reduce the weight of the material and increase the reflective surface area, the team directly used ultra-fine metal molybdenum single wires for weaving.
As a result, the team's researchers collaborated with Changde Textile Machinery Co., Ltd. to abandon the traditional thinking of weaving mesh warp knitted fabrics and innovatively developed a new technology and equipment for weaving "micro tension" warp knitted mesh fabrics, greatly reducing the weight of the new antenna reflector. The circular large antenna formed by it has a deployment area close to the area of a basketball court, greatly improving the deployable antenna reflector area and communication ability of high orbit satellites.
![What is the connection between heaven and earth for China's world's first high orbit satellite, with an area close to a basketball court? Weaving key materials for antennas: Feitian | Antenna | Connection](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/0e9eebbd4e9c6415aaea83e7484343d1.jpg)
Modern textile is no longer the traditional concept of "dressing and weaving", but the intelligent production of textile can "go up to the nine heavens and sweep the moon". From the solar panels "glass wings" that helped "Tiangong-1" and "Tiangong-2" successfully soar, to the "on-board antenna metal mesh" for the development of Beidou navigation and "Magpie Bridge" relay satellites, Chen Nanliang's research team has been taking on a series of aerospace projects, contributing to the national strategic advancement with the help of textile technology. This not only sets a new record for the height of Chinese people's flight, but also records the answers completed by textile high-tech in space to solve aerospace problems.