RIMFAX

The device can make detections dozens of meters/yards underneath ground, such as for buried sand dunes or lava feature.

RIMFAX takes its name from Hrímfaxi, the horse in Norse mythology that "faithfully brings the night."

The radar operates at radio frequencies of 150–1200 MHz and uses a Bow-Tie Slot antenna.

Overview

RIMFAX is a ground-penetrating radar, its antenna is located on the lower rear of the Perseverance rover. It is able to image different ground densities, structural layers, buried rocks, meteorites, and detect underground water ice and salty brine at 10 m (33 ft) depth.

Ground-penetrating radars (GPR) send radio frequency electromagnetic waves into the ground and then detect the reflected signals as a function of time to reveal subsurface structure as well as composition. RIMFAX is based on a number of GPR instruments developed at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI). RIMFAX was selected by NASA to be one of the instruments on the Mars 2020 rover in July 2014. RIMFAX provides the science team with the capability to assess the shallow layers and their stratigraphic relationship to nearby outcrops, and thus a window into the geological history and associated environmental history.

The RIMFAX instrument was developed and built by FFI, and it was delivered to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for integration with the rover in December 2018. Due to Mars's 24.5 hour long day, RIMFAX operations are shared between centers at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Oslo (UiO), swapping every two weeks. The RIMFAX data is archived by NASA's Planetary Data System. The RIMFAX principal investigator is Svein-Erik Hamran of FFI, and his team includes scientists from Norway, Canada and the United States.