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A comment on NASA Tech Breathes Life into Potentially Game-Changing Antenna Design. Parent comment

Re:NASA Tech Breathes Life into Potentially Game-Changing An... by sandworm101 on Saturday October 28, 2023 @08:39AM (#38049346)
A few internal wires/cables might allow the final inflated structure to be roughly parabolic. All sorts of wacky shapes can be made with internal stays. Alos, al low pressures the outer shape of the balloon could be made parabolic. Not every balloon need be perfectly round. They dont need perfection with a radio antenna.
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Re:NASA Tech Breathes Life into Potentially Game-Changing An... by denton-scratch on Saturday October 28, 2023 @01:01PM (#38051447)
> Just look at any birthday baloon. They arent spheres.

Yeah, I wondered about that. I guess a birthday balloon is a pretty complicated curve; but I doubt it comes closer to a paraboloid than it does to a sphere or a plane, anywhere on its surface.

But this thing isn't a telescope, it doesn't have to focus an image; it doesn't need to be a parabola, a sphere is fine for achieving highly-directional gain.

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