Additive Manufactured Antenna for NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP)

An X-Band choke-ring horn antenna was developed for NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission. The antenna was fabricated with an aluminum alloy powder and a Selective Laser Melting (SLM) printer. Another instance of the antenna was fabricated using conventional subtractive manufacturing techniques. Both antennas were tested and subjected to a representative environment encountered during the mission. Pre and post environmental testing show that the performance of the AM antenna was comparable to the conventional antenna, with the exceptions of reduced cost and fabrication time for the AM antenna.