Landing Radar Technology at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Mars Science Laboratory and Beyond

Safe landing on planetary bodies has traditionally been accomplished via radar systems, which have advantages of performing independent of lighting conditions, and of being far less susceptible to dust and other contaminant interactions than optical systems. At the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, we have an active program in the development of landing radar systems for both current missions (i.e. the Mars Science Laboratory) and for future mission concepts (hazard detection and avoidance, pinpoint landing). This article gives an overview of these systems and their driving technologies, including the key microwave circuit developments necessary to enable a future class of sensors.