Antennas & deployment mechanisms

Also known as Tape-spring antenna, Burn wire, UHF dipole

Quarter-wave and half-wave UHF tape-spring antennas, S-band patch arrays, UHMWPE thermal-knife hold-downs and deployment verification switches on picosatellites.

Document: SQ-SS-009
Updated: 21 Oct 2026
Reading time: 1 min

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Why UHF antennas must deploy on a 5 cm cube#

At the amateur UHF satellite band ( $435 - 438 MHz$ , wavelength $λ \approx 68.6 cm$ ), a quarter-wave monopole measures $171.5 mm$ and a half-wave dipole $343 mm$ —three to seven times the $50 mm$ edge of a $1 P$ PocketQube[1]. An electrically small antenna kept flush with a $50 mm$ face ( $k a \approx 0.23$ ) suffers a low radiation resistance and high reactive near field, losing $8 - 15 dB$ of efficiency relative to a deployed wire[2]. Consequently, almost every UHF PocketQube stows flexible spring-steel or beryllium–copper (CuBe2) tape elements wrapped around the chassis during launch and releases them after separation[3].

References

[1]nadir lab. (2026). PocketQube picosatellites: A review of standards, mission trends and miniaturization constraints, with lessons learned from Grizu-263A, Türkiye’s first PocketQube [Preprint]. nadir lab.Read on nadir lab.
[2]NASA Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute. (2026). Communications. State-of-the-Art of Small Spacecraft Technology (2026 edition), Chapter 9. NASA Ames Research Center.nasa.gov(accessed 20 October 2026)
[3]nadir lab. (2026). Materials engineering for PocketQube picosatellites: A scaling-based review and design guide [Preprint]. nadir lab.Read on nadir lab.
[4]Alba Orbital, TU Delft, & GAUSS Srl. (2018). The PocketQube Standard, Issue 1.albaorbital.com

Cite this SatWiki entry

@misc{nadirlab2026antennas,
  author       = {{nadir lab.}},
  title        = {{Antennas \& deployment mechanisms}},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = oct,
  howpublished = {nadir lab. SatWiki SQ-SS-009 (Rev. 1)},
  url          = {https://nadirlab.space/en/wiki/antennas-deployment/}
}

nadir lab. (2026). Antennas & deployment mechanisms. nadir lab. SatWiki (SQ-SS-009, Rev. 1). https://nadirlab.space/en/wiki/antennas-deployment/

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TI  - Antennas & deployment mechanisms
T2  - nadir lab. SatWiki
PY  - 2026
ET  - Rev. 1
C1  - SQ-SS-009
UR  - https://nadirlab.space/en/wiki/antennas-deployment/
ER  -