A Millimeter Wave Radar for Planetary Missions

Italy, with the main objectives to collect the science data of the Moon and Mars, through the Italian Space Agency has recently funded a study for Moon exploration whose results have been summarized in the report - "The Moon: an unavoidable step in the exploration of the Solar System" by A. Coradini, et alia. Moreover, a new study is in progress named MAGIA, (kalian acronym standing for Mission for Lunar Altimetry, Gravimetry and Geochemistry) where microwave and optical payloads are embarked to fuse data for Moon exploration. The mission foresees the use of several payloads for Moon and planetary measurement, including an innovative radar operating at millimeter wavelenghts. This paper reports radar design RHI is proposing to cope with planetary exploration challenging requirement in terms of topography and surface composition measurements and physical constraints in terms of mass and power consumption.