A large antenna that inflates like a balloon will be carried aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor STS-77 mission on May 16 and released into Earth orbit for the first time. This experiment may lay the groundwork for future inflatable space structures such as telescopes and satellite antennas. The antenna will be flown on the Goddard Space Flight Center's Spartan spacecraft as Spartan Mission 207. The Mission Manager at Goddard is Mark Steiner.
Inflatable structures have the potential to offer many advantages over hard structures.
In addition, deployment systems may be more reliable with inflatable components and these structures can be launched using a single small vehicle. The IAE will be deployed after the Spartan spacecraft is released from the Shuttle. The struts of the IAE will be attached to the Spartan. Once in low-Earth orbit, the Spartan will become a platform for the antenna which, when inflated, will be roughly the size of a tennis court. The IAE struts will first be inflated, followed by the reflector canopy.