NASA's has announced that this year's prestigious Group Achievement Award is set to honour the exceptional CENSSS: Centre for Space Sensors and Systems & Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt - FFI for their unrivalled contributions to the Mars 2020 mission. This esteemed recognition is given to carefully selected groups and individuals who have demonstrated outstanding dedication and contributions to the NASA mission each year.
The RIMFAX team's relentless commitment to excellence has significantly contributed to the mission's ongoing success. Their high-quality work has greatly enhanced our understanding of the Red Planet, bringing us one step closer to unravelling the mysteries of the universe.
The award ceremony is slated for Tuesday, July 11, 2023 at 3:30 pm on the JPL Mall at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The recognition comes with a citation: “For the successful operation and publication of scientific results from the Radar Imager for Mars' subsurFAce eXperiment (RIMFAX) on the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission.”
NASA expressed profound gratitude to the RIMFAX team for their remarkable contributions to the shared mission to explore the universe and uncover the wonders that lie within.
About NASA: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research.
About Mars 2020: The Mars 2020 mission with its Perseverance rover is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet.
About RIMFAX: Radar Imager for Mars' subsurFAce eXperiment, is an instrument on NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. This ground-penetrating radar is the first of its kind to go to Mars. It provides a highly detailed view of the subsurface structures down to at least several tens of feet (or meters) below the Mars surface.
The primary objective of RIMFAX is to investigate the subsurface of Mars, providing valuable data on the geology, This includes detecting water and ice and observing geological features, such as layers, strata, and embedded rocks. By analyzing these subsurface features, scientists hope to get a better understanding of the history of the planet, its climate, and the potential it might have had to harbor life in the past.
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