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Who would have thought that an ordinary dessert would lead to a cosmic breakthrough.
About 30 years ago, a young engineer named Christopher Walker was making chocolate pudding when he received an unexpected call from his mother. As he turned off the stove and covered the pan with clingfilm, he noticed that the cooling air in the pan pulled the clingfilm into a concave shape. In the distorted film, he saw the magnified reflection of a light bulb, and the researcher had an idea that could bring revolutionary changes in the field of space sensors and communication.
This idea evolved into the Large Balloon Reflector (LBR), an inflatable device that creates wide apertures that weigh much less than modern deployable antennas. With support from NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program and a grant from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Walker developed and demonstrated technologies for a 10-meter-diameter LBR that was flown into the stratosphere by a huge balloon.
The LBR concept transforms part of the inner surface of an inflated balloon into a parabolic antenna. About a third of the inner surface of the ball is covered with aluminum, giving it reflective properties.
In 2018, Walker-founded Freefall Aerospace demonstrated the potential of LBR on a NASA stadium balloon that delivered a scale model to an altitude of 159,000 feet. The next stage for the technology is to demonstrate high-speed communication in low-Earth orbit aboard a CubeSat.
After reaching low Earth orbit, the CatSat inflatable antenna deployment system will be deployed from its container, inflated to a diameter of about one and a half feet, and begin transmitting high-quality photos of the Earth. CatSat is scheduled to be launched alongside other CubeSat experiments on an Alpha Firefly Aerospace rocket as part of the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) 43 mission.
A more ambitious lunar project is also being considered. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, plans to use an inflatable antenna along with a new water detection tool.
"The technology demonstrated by CatSat opens the door to the possibility of future lunar, planetary, and deep space missions using CubeSats," Walker said.
Now it's hard to believe that it all started with a simple desire of a young engineer to treat himself to dessert. And it seems that the secret of space innovation really lay in the pudding.
About 30 years ago, a young engineer named Christopher Walker was making chocolate pudding when he received an unexpected call from his mother. As he turned off the stove and covered the pan with clingfilm, he noticed that the cooling air in the pan pulled the clingfilm into a concave shape. In the distorted film, he saw the magnified reflection of a light bulb, and the researcher had an idea that could bring revolutionary changes in the field of space sensors and communication.
This idea evolved into the Large Balloon Reflector (LBR), an inflatable device that creates wide apertures that weigh much less than modern deployable antennas. With support from NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program and a grant from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Walker developed and demonstrated technologies for a 10-meter-diameter LBR that was flown into the stratosphere by a huge balloon.
The LBR concept transforms part of the inner surface of an inflated balloon into a parabolic antenna. About a third of the inner surface of the ball is covered with aluminum, giving it reflective properties.
In 2018, Walker-founded Freefall Aerospace demonstrated the potential of LBR on a NASA stadium balloon that delivered a scale model to an altitude of 159,000 feet. The next stage for the technology is to demonstrate high-speed communication in low-Earth orbit aboard a CubeSat.
After reaching low Earth orbit, the CatSat inflatable antenna deployment system will be deployed from its container, inflated to a diameter of about one and a half feet, and begin transmitting high-quality photos of the Earth. CatSat is scheduled to be launched alongside other CubeSat experiments on an Alpha Firefly Aerospace rocket as part of the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) 43 mission.
A more ambitious lunar project is also being considered. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, plans to use an inflatable antenna along with a new water detection tool.
"The technology demonstrated by CatSat opens the door to the possibility of future lunar, planetary, and deep space missions using CubeSats," Walker said.
Now it's hard to believe that it all started with a simple desire of a young engineer to treat himself to dessert. And it seems that the secret of space innovation really lay in the pudding.