UCLA’s David Paige along with a team of US and foreign collaborators has been selected to design and run a ground-penetrating radar instrument to be included as part of the payload of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. The Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Exploration (RIMFAX), was one of seven (out of 58 proposals) carefully-selected instruments that will conduct unprecedented science and exploration technology investigations on the Red Planet.
A unique instrument that has not been taken to Mars previously, the RIMFAX will provide centimeter-scale resolution of the geology and structure of the upper 500 meters of the Martian subsurface. Professor David Paige, the Deputy Principal Investigator of the instrument, said “RIMFAX will aid the Mars 2020 rover in its mission to explore the ancient habitability of Mars, and select promising samples for caching and eventual sample return.”
For more information about the Mars 2020 mission, visit NASA’s mission-specific website: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mars2020/ .
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