LEO Phased Array Thermal and Power Challenges

Introduction#

Low Earth orbit communication satellites operate in an extreme thermal environment where heat can only be rejected by radiation. The phased array antenna, which is the heart of the modern LEO payload, concentrates thousands of active transmit and receive elements in a compact aperture. This creates a power density problem that must be carefully managed.

In a vacuum, convective cooling disappears entirely. Every watt consumed by the radio frequency chains, control electronics, and beamforming processors becomes heat that must be conducted to radiators. As constellations expand,