SHARAD

It complements the MARSIS radar on Mars Express orbiter,[1] providing lower penetration capabilities (some hundred meters) but much finer resolution (15 metres - untapered - in free space).

[citation needed] SHARAD was developed under the responsibility of the Italian Space Agency (ASI, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana), and provided to JPL for use on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft in the frame of a NASA/ASI agreement which foresees exploitation of the data by a joint Italian/US team.

SHARAD is physically divided into two elements: The instrument operates at fixed PRF (700.28 Hz) and the echo is received in rank 1 (i.e., after the second transmitted pulse).

The receiver provides amplification, filtering and digital gain control directly at RF, and the digitised using an undersampling technique at a rate of 26.6 MHz.

The Engineering Model (EM) of the instrument was delivered to Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver (responsible for the spacecraft) in March 2004, and integrated into the Orbiter Test Bed.

The SHARAD radar penetrated the north polar layered ice deposits of Mars and revealed a relatively small (about 100 meter) maximum deflection of the underlying rock, which suggests a strong lithosphere greater than 300 kilometers thick.

[3] On November 22, 2016, NASA reported finding a large amount of underground ice in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars using SHARAD.

[4][5][6] The calculations for the volume of water ice in the region were based on measurements from SHARAD, the ground-penetrating radar instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).