York University

Published purpose

NASA has stated the goal of sending humans to the Martian surface by the mid-2030s, and so reconnaissance of potential landing zones needs to be complete before a first landing site can be chosen. Water ice is the most important in situ resource utilization (ISRU) for humans, even above building materials because it can be melted and cleaned to be used as drinking water and rocket fuel. As such, sending humans to locations with abundant and accessible water will enable crewed missions earlier, for lower cost, and with less risk than if the vehicles had to carry enough water to support a full length mission and a return trip. The goal of the International Mars Ice Mapper (I-MIM) mission is to quantify the presence, depth to, distribution, and purity of water ice in reconnaissance zones that are favorable for future human exploration and colonization. The purpose of this project is to quantify the performance of L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and sounder in terrestrial analogue sites in preparation of flight of the L-band radar on the I-MIM mission. The main objectives are to collect, validate, and calibrate airborne SAR and sounding data at locations known to have dry sediment overlying thick ground ice ¿ the types of materials that will be sought on Mars in preparation for ISRU during human exploration of that planet. In order to complete these objectives, ground truth data, will be collected. Further, development and validation of finite difference time-domain (FDTD) radar simulating code will take place as part of the validation and prediction of Mars radar performance. The primary applications that will come from this is better predicted performance of the Canadian radar that is the anchor payload of I-MIM and faster, more accurate interpretations of the collected data.