Rover-Mounted Microwave Tool for Direct 3D Mapping of Water Ice on Mars

Successfully locating and extracting water for life-support and energy resources (rocket fuel) from indigenous soils on Mars, directly impacts our ability to establish and sustain habitation. In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) by decomposing H2O and other processes (i.e., the Sabatier) can potentially produce the necessary water, Oxygen and Methane/liquid Oxygen for these purposes. Related to Mars, even in the absence of liquid water on its surface, existence of water in the form of H2O ice beneath the surface, covered by a heterogeneous layer of overburden, is an accepted notion [1-4]. H2O ice serves a number of purposes for habitation life-support and fuel production needs. Consequently, on-site verification (ground-truth data) of the presence of H2O ice, its volumetric distribution, inclusions contained within, host regolith properties, and other desired characteristics, becomes critically important. Furthermore, distinction between H2O ice and clathrates, as additional sources of useful gasses becomes an important aspect of this long-term objective [5-6]. To this end, we aim to devise a direct, real-time and high-resolution microwave imaging methodology, founded on established physics-based and engineering principles, for producing a 3D map of Martian regolith for detecting and quantifying H2O ice, its composition and that of the overburden and the host regolith. The approach uniquely leverages: • the highly sensitive and distinct interaction between microwave signals and H2O molecules and its physical state - liquid, solid (ice) and gas (vapor) [7-8], • the changes in dielectric properties of H2O ice and clathrates as a function of inclusions such as trapped gases (e.g., methane or carbon dioxide), soils, sand, pebbles, and salts (i.e., Chlorates and Perchlorates), temperature, and frequency [8-9], • the adaptation of a successfully-developed portable, real-time, high-resolution microwave imaging technology to a mobile platform (Rover), to rapidly produce 3D map of shallow regolith properties, providing ground-truth information about: heterogeneity, and volumetric extent and content (particularly) of trapped H2O ice, rocks, overburden cover, etc. The envisioned synthetic aperture radar (SAR)-based imaging system, consists of a 2-4 staggered linear arrays of up to 64 individual antennas, with each array having a length of 1.5-2 m. The system is expected to operate in the 0.5-5 GHz frequency range resulting in a spatial resolution in the order of ~10 cm, with a bandwidth of 0.25-1 GHz producing a depth resolution in the same order, with a required operating power of ~25-40 W. These parameters allow for signal penetration to within a few meters from the surface, while providing ample spatial resolution. Unlike ground penetrating radars (GPR) that give much deeper information but with much coarser resolution, using antennae that require intimate contact with the soil surface, the proposed system operates from tens of centimeters away from the surface allowing for unrestricted movement over rough surfaces. Being a real-time and autonomously-operated imaging system, it can be carried on a number of mobile vehicles (i.e., Rovers) and produce rapid 3D images of a substantial area is a matter of minutes, only limited by the speed of the vehicle. The collected imaging data can be readily transmitted any location (on Mars or Earth). The successful implementation of this comprehensive and fully optimizable concept, for 3D-quantification of H2O ice on Mars, will be enabling and transformative in the way we “look” for water on Mars and other planets. This approach can also be used to monitor shallow water and H2O ice transformation to water vapor in the course of a Martian day during heating and cooling.

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