Bob Grimm - RF
RADIOFREQUENCY INSTRUMENTATION
Mars Ground Penetrating High Resolution Radar
(GOPHER). Mars Science Laboratory instrument proposal, 2004 (R. Grimm, PI). Designed to support rover operations by imaging the shallow subsurface. Sam Kim (JPL) provided the detailed design for GOPHER, based on earlier PIDDP and MIDP work. TRL 5-6.
See the orange box tucked away inside the rover Warm Equipment Box.
Surface-Penetrating Airborne Radar (SPAR). Instrument proposed in 2006 for the Zephyr Mars Scout (R. Grimm, Mission and Instrument PI). This prototype (TRL 4-5), developed and tested by Jim Johnson and Gray Davis of SwRI, uses an altimetry pulse to set the time range for a conventional ground-penetrating radar function. SPAR is adaptable to other ground or airborne exploration.
SPAR prototype showing resistively loaded dipole antenna, electronics boxes, and directive backplane. Maybe it would look better in orange.
Radiofrequency Interferometric Subsurface Sounder (RISS). Instrument proposed for Copernicus lunar Discovery mission (M. Malin, Mission PI; R. Grimm, Instrument PI). RISS (TRL 3) uses a static transmitter and a mobile receiver to image the subsurface, akin to the Apollo Surface Electrical Properties (SEP) Experiment. Compared to GPR, RISS has a greater investigation depth with smaller required power, but at the expense of lower resolution.
