Posted by tourdemars to Mars Express at April 29, 2005 03:31 PM

Following green light for the deployment of ESA’s Mars Express radar, given in February this year, the radar booms are now planned to be deployed in the first half of May. Once the deployment is successful, the Mars Express MARSIS radar will enable the first European spacecraft to orbit Mars to complement its study of the planet’s atmosphere and surface. MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument) is the first antenna of its kind which was also designed to actually look below the surface of Mars at the different layers of material, most notably for water.