Overview
- JPL reported Friday that prototype tests of SkyFall's flexible ground‑penetrating radar antenna answered major technical questions after the hardware endured 200 simulated Mars landings.
- The antenna uses a Vivaldi broadband design and is deliberately about 1.5 times longer than the helicopters' 15 cm landing legs so it can fly close to the ground and must bend and reliably spring back after landings.
- Engineers reinforced the 142‑gram antenna with layers such as polyester and Vectran plus flexible fiberglass tape springs so it can survive repeated mechanical stress while still transmitting and receiving radar signals.
- SkyFall will send three AeroVironment‑co‑designed helicopters to Mars carrying the radar to map shallow subsurface layers to roughly 5 meters and search for accessible ice where orbital radar and rovers cannot see.
- Although the tests mark a major milestone, JPL says the antenna still needs further evaluation and formal flight qualification as the team continues work toward the mission's planned launch on Space Reactor‑1 Freedom in late 2028.