Margaret Samuels

"3D Printed Antenna for a Balloon Test Flight"

ABSTRACT -- The 3D Printing Electronics group flew a printed antenna on the Salter Balloon Test Flight mission in August 2024 from Fort Sumner, New Mexico. A TDRSS antenna (2.1 – 2.3 GHz) was quickly designed, printed and iterated using the 3D Printing Electronics Lab facility. Antenna performance was tailored to precise frequency and gain requirements prior to launch. The final design underwent anechoic chamber testing at GSFC before undergoing ground to satellite testing at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas. The printed antenna was tested alongside traditional TDRSS antennas utilized for scientific balloon missions and outperformed the heritage antenna design used by the Balloon Program Office. These balloon missions typically use 10 or more TDRSS antennas as well as antennas in other frequency ranges with various RF circuitry components. The printed antenna flew in open air on the balloon’s gondola, serving as a demonstration of how 3D printed electronics withstand atmospheric conditions experienced by scientific balloon payloads.

SPEAKER -- Dr. Margaret H. Samuels is a PI and Research Technologist at NASA GSFC, where she leads the 3D Printing Electronics group, researching unique spaceflight mission needs that can benefit from 3D Printing of electronics, as well as building the means to prototype and iterate PCB designs early and often for mission success. She received a BA in Physics and Creative Science Writing from Goucher College and a PhD in Materials Science from the University of Rochester/Laboratory for Physical Sciences, where she was an NSF IGERT Fellow and studied the measurement of thermal stress in cryogenically cooled thin films for superconducting applications. Her research interests include stress effects on thin film devices, cryogenic thermal materials and interfaces, interferometry, and the role of microstructures in 3D printed electronics. She is a recipient of the Robert H. Goddard Award for Exceptional Achievement in Engineering, a group award given to the Printed Hybrid Electronics Team in 2023.

Engineering Colloquium home page: https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov