![]() ![]() , and advances in parabolic membrane antennas over the past decades were presented in Refs. Although structural characteristics and application prospects of inflatable antennas were summarized in Refs. , but deployable membrane antenna structures were not considered. Creative design and analysis of some deployable structures and mechanisms were presented in Refs. In order to promote membrane antenna progress, it is necessary to review the development of deployable membrane antenna structures and provide guidance for space membrane-antenna researchers. It is obvious that applications of large membrane antennas in space still face many difficulties and challenges. However, up until now, no membrane antennas have been applied in space, except an American inflatable antenna with a diameter of 14 m that had space flight experience in 1996. Some progress has also been made in this domain over the past 10 years in China. Since 1970, a series of explorations of membrane antennas have been carried out in the United States, Europe, Japan, etc. These membrane antenna structures generally involve a membrane surface, support structures, and a tensioning system. At present, there are two main kinds of space-borne membrane antenna structures: parabolic and planar membrane antenna structures. In comparison with traditional rigid antennas, membrane antennas can easily achieve larger scale with lighter weight, smaller stowage volume, and lower cost. With an increasing demand for large-aperture (hundreds of square meters or more) space-borne antennas, deployable membrane antennas have been attracting interest in space research areas. Through a review of large deployable membrane antenna structures, guidance for space membrane-antenna research and applications is provided. Finally, future trends for large space membrane antenna structures are pointed out and technical problems are proposed, including design and analysis of membrane structures, materials and processes, membrane packing, surface accuracy stability, and test and verification technology. Recent advances in structural configurations, tensioning system design, and dynamic analysis for planar membrane antenna structures are investigated. Additionally, for planar membrane antenna structures, frame shapes have changed from circular to rectangular, and different tensioning systems have emerged successively, including single Miura–Natori, double, and multi-layer tensioning systems. Then, properties of membrane materials (including polyester film and polyimide film) for parabolic membrane antennas are compared. The development and detailed comparison of these five methods are presented. For parabolic membrane antenna structures, there are five deploying and forming methods, including inflation, inflation-rigidization, elastic ribs driven, Shape Memory Polymer (SMP)-inflation, and electrostatic forming. Space-borne membrane antenna structures are mainly classified as either parabolic or planar membrane antenna structures. ![]() However, there is little literature providing a comprehensive review and comparison of different membrane antenna structures. The demand for large antennas in future space missions has increasingly stimulated the development of deployable membrane antenna structures owing to their light weight and small stowage volume. ![]()
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