NASA SkyFall’s Featherweight Radar Antenna Survives 200 Mars Landings

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory just finished a punishing test campaign on a piece of hardware smaller and lighter than most people would expect for a Mars mission. In July, engineers put a flexible, fabric-based radar antenna through the equivalent of more than two full prime missions of hard landings on the Red Planet. The antenna came through with its signal strength intact. Skyfall plans to send three compact helicopters to Mars in late 2028 aboard the Space Reactor 1 Freedom spacecraft. Each of the miniature choppers will hold four science devices. One of these is a ground-penetrating radar intended to

Source: techeblog.com