JUICE is a mission set to search for life on Jupiter’s icy moons. Credit: ©Airbus S.A.S.

European Space Agency (ESA), Airbus and SpaceTech have used Keysight Technologies’ FieldFox handheld RF analyser to evaluate the impedance of the radar antenna for icy moons exploration (RIME).

RIME is one of the ESA’s ten science payloads of the Jupiter icy moons explorer (JUICE) spacecraft, which is set to launch in 2022 as part of the agency’s mission to search for life on icy moons of Jupiter.

In September, phase-matching and orientation tests were performed on the RIME antenna in Heiligenberg, Germany.

“By measuring the matching characteristics of a trial radar antenna, ESA and Airbus engineers can correlate design simulation with actual test data.”

In addition, aluminium and carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) antennas to be used on the spacecraft were also tested by RIME engineers.

The engineers placed the antennas on a satellite-sized enclosure, which was then lifted 300m in the air by helicopter to ensure low-RF coupling to the ground.

S-parameter characteristics of the antenna were measured using the FieldFox analyser while it was in flight, rotating more than 180°, while the spacecraft mock-up was being navigated by helicopter.

Keysight Technologies aerospace, defence, government solutions vice-president and general manager Greg Peters said: “We are pleased at being chosen as a key test solution provider for evaluation of the RIME antenna.

“By measuring the matching characteristics of a trial radar antenna, ESA and Airbus engineers can correlate design simulation with actual test data.”

The antenna is intended to allow accurate measurements of the radar echoes that are reflected from the deep subsurface of the Jovian icy moons.