RIMFAX-modeling for Martian subsurface exploration: Ground-penetrating radar studies for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission, during exploration of Jezero Crater Floor
Abstract
Radar echoes on Mars can reveal stories about our neighbour planet’s hidden past. The RIMFAX ground-penetrating radar on NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission, was the first to conduct soundings while driving over the Martian surface, contributing to the grand endeavour of studying the planet’s geology and searching for traces of life beyond Earth. Radar sounding can disclose structures and properties that are concealed below the Martian surface. Another possible application is detection of water resources that will be needed when humans start traveling to the planet; however, deciphering information in the radar measurements can be challenging. Numerical modeling is therefore used to help understand what lies encrypted within the recorded data. This dissertation investigates how numerical modeling can incorporate instrument design and realistic media properties, in order to support the pioneering efforts of RIMFAX data acquisition and analysis during a frontier mission. By generating realistic modelled data for developing analysis methods, we obtain a better understanding of which information can be retrieved from the data and how.List of papers
Paper I. Eide, S., Hamran, S. E., Dypvik, H., and Amundsen, H. E. F. “Ground-Penetrating Radar Modeling Across the Jezero Crater Floor”. In: IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing. Vol. 14, (2021), pp. 2484–2493. DOI: 10.1109/JSTARS.2021.3055944. The article is included in the thesis. Also available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2021.3055944 |
Paper II. Eide, S., Casademont, T., Aardal, Ø. L., and Hamran, S. E. “Modeling FMCW Radar for Subsurface Analysis”. In: IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing. Vol. 15, (2022), pp. 2998–3007. DOI: 10.1109/JSTARS.2022.3165135. The article is included in the thesis. Also available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2022.3165135 |
Paper III. Eide, S., Casademont, T., Berger, T., Dypvik, H, Shoemaker, E., and Hamran, S. E. “Radar Attenuation in the Shallow Martian Subsurface: RIMFAX Time-Frequency Analysis and Constant-Q Characterization over Jezero Crater Floor”. In: Geophysical Research Letters. Vol. 50, (2022), pp. e2022GL101429. DOI: 10.1029/2022GL101429. The article is included in the thesis. Also available at: https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL101429 |
Paper IV. Eide, S., Dypvik, H., Amundsen, H. E. F., Page, D., and Hamran, S. E. “RIMFAX Dip Attribute Analysis: Unconformity Detection and True Dip in the Martian Subsurface”. In: 19th International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar. Society of Exploration Geophysicists, (2022), pp. 159–162. DOI: 10.1190/gpr2022-018.1. The article is not available in DUO due to publisher restrictions. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1190/gpr2022-018.1 |