NASA Tests 5-Ounce Mars Radar Antenna Through 200 Landings for 2028 Skyfall Mission
Updated
Updated · TechEBlog · Aug 7
NASA Tests 5-Ounce Mars Radar Antenna Through 200 Landings for 2028 Skyfall Mission
3 articles · Updated · TechEBlog · Aug 7
Summary
JPL engineers put Skyfall’s flexible radar antenna through 200 simulated Mars landings in July and found no loss of signal strength—more than double the requirement for a full primary mission.
The 5-ounce, fabric-based Vivaldi antenna was built because Skyfall’s mini helicopters have only 6 inches of ground clearance, forcing the radar to fold under the craft during landing and rebound after takeoff.
Operating across 500 to 2,500 megahertz, the antenna is designed to map shallow buried ice in Mars’ upper few feet—terrain orbiters cannot resolve but future astronauts would need to dig.
JPL’s Environmental Test Lab bent the hardware into harsh post-landing shapes, exposed it to 170-degree day-night temperature swings, and ran tougher-than-Mars radio tests with the antenna flipped upward.
Skyfall plans to launch in late 2028 aboard Space Reactor 1 Freedom, sending three compact helicopters, each carrying four science instruments, to scout near-surface water ice on Mars.