SHARAD Illuminates Deeper Martian Subsurface Structures with a Boost from Very Large Rolls of the MRO Spacecraft

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that large roll maneuvers of the MRO spacecraft significantly enhance SHARAD radar data quality, enabling deeper subsurface imaging of Mars's geology with improved signal-to-noise ratios.

Contribution

The paper introduces very-large-roll (VLR) maneuvers for MRO, showing they substantially improve radar penetration depth and data clarity compared to standard observations.

Findings

Signal-to-noise ratio increased by 9-14 dB with VLR maneuvers.

Deeper subsurface features detected at 800 m and 1500 m depths.

Enhanced reflections observed in ice and sediment layers.

Abstract

Throughout its mission, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has often rolled about its along-track axis by up to 28{\deg} to partially compensate for the suboptimal location of the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) antenna along an edge of the spacecraft that is opposite the imaging payload deck, thereby enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of echoes returned from the surface. After recent modeling work predicted that a much larger roll would improve the S/N by ~10 dB relative to nadir-pointed observing, MRO began a limited series of 120{\deg} roll maneuvers to test the effects on radar sounding. Three such SHARAD very-large-roll (VLR) observations have been acquired since May 2023, and they show dramatic improvements in signal clarity and depth of penetration, with S/N increasing by 9, 11, and 14 dB over that of nearly coincident observations at 0{\deg} roll angle. In low dielectric terrains, the first and second VLR observations enabled basal detections at depths previously unachievable, reaching depths of 800 m in Medusae Fossae materials and 1500 m through the ice of Ultimi Scopuli, respectively. The second VLR observation also obtained enhanced reflections throughout the ice stack. In the higher dielectric terrain of Amazonis Planitia, the third VLR observation improved continuity of a dipping subsurface interface, but it revealed neither an extension of the interface to greater depths nor any deeper interfaces. The MRO mission intends to obtain more SHARAD VLR observations of polar terrains and of midlatitude glacial and ground ices, sediments, and volcanics.