Abstract: The invention is a system for automatically controlling the surface contour of a deployable and restowable antenna 11 having a mesh reflector surface 26 supported by a circular, folding hoop 12 affixed to a central, telescoping column 14. The antenna 11, when deployed, forms a quad-aperture reflector with each quadrant A-D of the mesh surface 26 shaped to provide an offset parabolic RF reflector.The hoop 12 is supported and positioned by quartz support cords 12 attached to the top 22 of column 14 and by lower graphite hoop control cords 23 that extend between the hoop 12 and base 24 of the column 14. The antenna 11, an RF reflective surface 26, is a gold plated molybdenum wire mesh supported on a graphite cord truss structure that includes the hoop control cords and a plurality of surface control cords 27 attached at selected points on the surface 26 and to the base 24 of column 14.

Abstract: A column longeron latch assembly 72 provides the securing mechanism for the deployable, telescoping column 12 of a hoop/column antenna 10. Column 12 is an open lattice structure with three longerons disposed 120.degree. apart as the principle load bearing member and is deployed from a pair of eleven nested bays 22, 23 (FIG. 2) disposed on opposite sides of a center section 21 under the influence of a motor-cable-pulley system (FIGS. 3 and 4). Longeron latch 72 is a four bar linkage mechanism using the over-center principle for automatically locking the longeron sections into position during deployment and serves to unlock the sections when antenna 10 is to be re-stowed. A spring pack 61 disposed in an end of each longeron serves to absorb stress forces on the deployed column through the cam head piston and abutting latch from an adjacent longeron.