On February 18 2021, the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) and the University of Oslo (UiO) will hopefully start their contribution to the exploration of the planet Mars, when the Mars 2020 rover is scheduled to land on the red planet in search for signs of past life.
Mounted on the rover, is the Norwegian Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) RIMFAX, which Svein-Erik Hamran and his team have developed at FFI.
Analyzing structures more than ten meters into the ground
RIMFAX is a GPR that looks down into the subsurface and analyzes geological formations below the ground. There has never been such an instrument on the surface of Mars before, says Hamran. RIMFAX now allows scientists to map geological structures and formations more than ten meters under the surface of Mars. It may also help to analyze whether the area where the rover moves had conditions that allowed life in the past. The Mars 2020 rover is the fifth rover from NASA to be launched to Mars, but the first with a GPR. The RIMFAX GPR was developed at FFI, on behalf of the US space agency NASA. Read more about the MARS 2020 mission.
Analyzing the rover's movements from Kjeller
The professor with physics background from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) is greeting the new year with enthusiasm. The prestigious project has taken a lot of his time in the recent years. And he expects it will also take a lot of his time in the years ahead. Hamran entered a full-time position as professor at the Department of Technology Systems (ITS) in the fall of 2019. During 2020, an operation control room will be established at ITS, and RIMFAX will be operated from the Department during the Mars 2020 rover surface mission. This will be done in collaboration with FFI, NASA and other US partners, such as the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of California.
The rover will be operated every day throughout the year. The journey to the planet Mars will take seven months, and the rover will send geophysical data from Mars for at least two years. NASA expects however the rover to operate on Mars for 10 years ahead.
I assume that this will put Norway and Kjeller on the map for space enthusiasts, Hamran?
– The fact that such an operation center is located at Kjeller, will make the Department of Technology Systems one of the few places in the world where rovers on Mars are operated from. And therefore make the Department and the University well-known names for planetary scientists.
The Mars 2020 mission has four science objectives:
- Looking for habitability: Identify past environments capable of supporting microbial life
- Seeking biosignatures: Seek signs of possible past microbial life in those habitable environments, particularly in special rocks known to preserve signs of life over time
- Caching samples: Collect core rock and "soil" samples and store them on the Martian surface
- Preparing for humans: Test oxygen production from the Martian atmosphere
Teaching remote sensing with radar
With a 20 percent research position at FFI and a full-time position as a professor at ITS, he will convey his knowledge to master students and PhD students at UiO. The topic "Radar Remote Sensing" is on the agenda this semester at ITS.
Can you tell a little about the subject, and what career opportunities students taking this course as part of their master's or PhD degree have?
– The course covers the application of imaging radars and how the radar waves are reflected from different parts of the earth's surface. Such radar instruments are often on a satellite, orbiting the Earth. They are used for environmental monitoring of both glaciers and ocean waves. Students taking this course can find jobs in both developing new instruments and in using the radar images to monitor the environment on Earth.
How did you start researching in this field area?
– My first job was at the Environmental Surveillance Technology Program, which was under NTNF, the Norwegian Technical Research Council, where we developed sensors to monitor the environment. I took a PhD on developing a radar to study glaciers in Svalbard.
After the doctorate, I entered a post doc position where I worked on a radar which was supposed to go to Mars. That radar never made it to Mars, but I continued to work on the ability to send a radar to the red planet. In 2003, I was involved in a proposal for ESA and the European rover ExoMars. We proposed to have a radar instrument on the ExoMars rover and the proposal was accepted. I am now Co-Principal Investigator on a GPR on the ExoMars rover, which is also scheduled to be launched this summer.
What makes research with radar instruments unique, in your opinion?
– Radar instruments are used today in a variety of applications. Not only for monitoring the environment, but also for medical use to monitor patients. Radar sensors are important in the development of self-driving cars and all new cars have radars that measure the distance to the car in front.
An internship or perhaps more preferably a job in NASA might seem tempting for some students. Is it a dream that can come true?
– ITS collaborates with US institutions that do space research. If you study at ITS and take a PhD in this field, there are good opportunities to travel to the US and do some of the work there. We plan to announce two new PhD fellowship positions this spring that will work on methods for finding water on Mars. One PhD researcher will use the RIMFAX GPR on Mars 2020. The other will develop a new instrument for characterizing water under the Martian surface.
You recently left a full-time position as a researcher at FFI for a full-time position as professor at UiO. What made you change your career path?
– I have had a 20 percent professor position at various departments at UiO for almost twenty years now. I know the academic environment at the university well. Furthermore, I think the work on operating the RIMFAX radar on Mars and interpreting the data fits better at a university than at a research institute. But I think that the development of an instrument such as RIMFAX for Mars could only have been done at FFI in Norway.
What advice would you give to young students today in order to get a career quickly? And would you advice them to choose with their brain or their heart?
– I would recommend using both their brain and their heart. Work is much easier if you are pursuing something you are interested in. If there also is funding for what you want to do, it is even better.