The ionosphere is a layer of the upper atmosphere characterized by a high density of charged ions. It is often responsible for scattering, reflecting, and overall disrupting radio signals on the HF/VHF bands. Given the high spatial and temporal variability of the ionosphere's composition, ground-based measurement techniques often struggle to meaningfully image its structure. Indirect measurements done by a space-based LEO radio beacon is proposed through the RABSII instrument, scheduled to fly aboard the upcoming TU Delft mission: Delfi-Twin. This work details a novel antenna and deployer design compatible with the host satellite platform and capable of meeting the pre-defined mission science objectives. Numerical simulations are used to investigate the beacon’s RF performance. A departure from conventional resonant antennas allows for a significant reduction in the beacon’s size: from the originally proposed 5-meter dipole down to a 0.75-meter-diameter loop antenna. To meet the tight size requirements, a novel antenna deployment approach is proposed, prototyped, tested, and shown capable of fitting within the 80x40x4mm of available volume aboard Delfi-Twin. Deployment initiation is identified as the most critical design aspect requiring further mechanical testing. The final instrument design balances technical risk between RF performance and mechanical deployment. Besides the instrument itself, the work presented provides insights into often overlooked electrically-short antennas, and how they could be used to reduce the footprint of conventional space telecommunication systems.

The economic and holistic incentives of asteroid exploration have sparked an increased interest within the space industry. Missions like Hera and M-ARGO have taken steps towards said exploration, each with its own concept, but both using CubeSats due to the versatility they add. Thus, an interesting question arises on whether adopting a distributed, deep space system approach will reduce the costs and increase the versatility of the mission. To answer this query, the DASH mission takes Hera’s goals as its own to propose an innovative distributed framework that can match current asteroid exploration missions at significantly lower cost. As a result, this report deals with the design of the system and subsystem elements of the DASH mission, short for Distributed Asteroid Surveying Herd. Consequently, it is fitting to first analyse the current state of the market and then proceed with the mission-dependent elements.