Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Shallow Radar (SHARAD) Sounder
Co-Investigator and U.S. Operations Specialist
Provided by the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), SHARAD is a subsurface radar sounder aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Operating with a 10 MHz bandwidth and a 20 MHz center frequency, SHARAD transmits radar pulses toward the Martian surface and records echoes from the surface and buried interfaces, enabling scientists to image subsurface layering to depths of hundreds of meters to more than a kilometer, depending on material properties.
SHARAD has been in continuous science operations since November 2006, making it one of the longest-running orbital radar sounders in planetary exploration. Its primary mission is to characterize the structure, composition, and distribution of subsurface materials on Mars, with a strong emphasis on detecting and mapping water ice. SHARAD data have been central to studies of the polar layered deposits, mid-latitude buried ice, volcanic and sedimentary stratigraphy, and the geologic history preserved in the Martian subsurface.
For a recent review of MRO SHARAD, please see Putzig et al. (2024)
System Manager for the Colorado SHARAD Processing System (CO-SHARPS)
The U.S. SHARAD team developed the Colorado SHARAD Radar Processing System (CO-SHARPS), which supplements the Italian-produced standard SHARAD products archived in the NASA Planetary Data System. A primary feature of CO-SHARPS is the processing boutique, which allows the use of custom processing parameters to produce radargrams that may better resolve features specific to individual locations on Mars.
CO-SHARPS was established in 2006 — as WU-SHARPS at Washington University in St. Louis — by former SHARAD U.S./Deputy Team Leader Roger Phillips. Since 2016, PSI has hosted CO-SHARPS on behalf of the U.S. team.
Access to CO-SHARPS is open to all interested parties. Please visit the U.S. SHARAD Team website for more information.