NASA engineers have tested a light, flexible antenna designed for the agency's future SkyFall Mars helicopters. The antenna will hang below each rotorcraft and send radar into the ground to look for shallow frozen water and ice.
The fabric-based design weighs about five ounces, or 150 grams. Engineers covered it with strong Vectran fibers and added flexible supports so it can bend without getting in the way of a landing.
In the laboratory, the antenna went through temperature changes, repeated flexing, electromagnetic checks, and tests that simulated the strain of landing on Mars. It made it through the equivalent of 200 landings with no loss of performance.
The antenna is not flight-qualified yet. The team is building another model for vibration, signal, and outdoor tests, but this first big test answered important questions and moved the mission forward.
