MARSIS: Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding

We report the findings of MARSIS from the first several months of its science operations phase. Subsurface soundings were used to probe the north polar layered deposits to their base, up to 1.8 km deep. The base of the south polar layered deposits was mapped, and the volume of the deposits was measured. Radar penetration was observed in the equatorial Medusae Fossae formation, indicating the presence of low-density material that may include water ice. In the ionospheric sounding mode, several types of echo were observed, ranging from vertical echoes caused by specular reflection from the horizontally stratified ionosphere, to a wide variety of oblique and diffuse echoes. Echoes at the electron plasma frequency and the cyclotron period provide measurements of the local electron density and magnetic field strength.

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