Abstract: Operational design criteria of the next generation reflector antenna for deep space exploration is about 0.1mm, so the effect of thermal structural deformation on antenna electromagnetic performance must be researched carefully. For this engineering problem, the 40m reflector antenna of “Change Project” is considered as research object. The heat flux due to solar on antenna is calculated based on geographical position, date and time. The temperature distribution of antenna is obtained, considering three heat transfer ways: convection, conduction and radiation; and temperature experiment is designed via a 7.3 m Cassegrain antenna. Results of the experiment indicate that: the temperature model is valid; thermal-structure analysis is proceed through ANSYS. Electrical parameters of antenna is calculated by far field patterns formal, and three main electrical properties parameters including gain loss, sidelobe level and pointing error are studied mainly. The analysis result shows that, the effect of temperature on electromagnetic performance does not only depend on RMS of structure deformation, but also depend on the distribution of deformation. The analysis method and results could be used for reference on next generation reflector antenna design.

Key words: Electromechanical coupling, Heat flux, Reflector antennas, Solar radiation, Temperature distribution