An innovative multimode millimeter wave radar for Moon remote sensing

Since 2004, afterwards the US announcement, a renewed spirit of exploration has pushed space agencies in the world to promote new programs and studies devoted both to return to the Moon and to prepare a human mission toward Mars. Main objectives of this new phase of the space exploration is to collect as many as possible science data of the two planetary bodies and to acquire and test the technological basis on which to found the human challenge to the red planet. Within this context, Italy through the Italian Space Agency has recently funded a study for Moon remote sensing named MAGIA (Italian acronym standing for mission for lunar altimetry, gravimetry and geochemistry), and currently carried out by Rheinmetall Italy as prime contractor. The mission foresees the development of different payloads for Moon study, including an innovative radar-altimeter-radiometer (RAR) operating at millimeter wavelengths (95 GHz). This paper, after introducing the MAGIA mission, focuses on the preliminary activity, currently ongoing, of radar designing and dimensioning along with the trade-off carried out.