Waveguide-based Dielectric and Magnetic Property Measurement

About this technology

Overview

Understanding the composition of planetary surfaces is crucial for advancing space exploration and preparing for future human missions to the Moon and Mars. NASA’s proposed International Mars Ice Mapping (I-MIM) mission aims to use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to identify near-surface ice deposits on Mars, which could serve as a vital resource for future explorers. To support this effort, scientists must first determine how radar signals interact with the diverse materials found on these planetary bodies, such as rock, regolith, and buried ice. An understanding of these interactions is critical to designing specialized SARs for such missions, as well as to determining their detection capabilities in specific environments. Traditional methods of analyzing such materials have provided valuable insights, but they often lack the ability to assess the 3-D electromagnetic (EM) properties of rock and soil, which are critical for improving radar-based detection capabilities. Furthermore, existing techniques require regularly shaped samples (e.g., rectangles). Martian and other planetary rock samples brought back to Earth are precious and cannot be altered, eliminating these techniques as an option. Recognizing this challenge, a team of engineers and scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) have developed an advanced laboratory-based system for measuring the dielectric and magnetic properties of arbitrarily shaped samples with high accuracy.