The crew of Hypatia Mars, a female-led organization dedicated to advancing Martian research and outreach, will undertake a simulation mission at the analog station Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah from February 2nd to 15th, 2025. As part of the mission, the team will carry out research projects in different disciplines.

Mònica Roca i Aparici, member of the crew and director of isardSAT, will perform tests on a portable corner reflector installed in the base, to calibrate the radar altimeter onboard of Sentinel-3 satellite. This project will demonstrate the feasibility of corner reflectors to calibrate altimeters onboard of satellites using simple and affordable instrumentation.

Image of the corner reflector in front of the Montsec Observatory. Image: IEEC.

The portable corner reflector has been developed by isardSAT and funded by the European Space Agency - ESA, as an extension of the Sentinel-3 Land Altimetry Mission Performance Cluster Service project, similar to the corner reflector installed in the Montsec Observatory. The results of the altimeter’s passes over this corner reflector calibration show exceptional accuracy, comparable to those obtained by ESA transponders.

Altimeters on board of Earth Observation satellites continuously measure the distance between the satellite and the Earth’s surface. Its data is used both for short-term weather forecasts and for global oceanographic and climate studies. Like any advanced data processing, this instrument needs periodic calibration to verify the satellite’s measurements around the Earth.

The crew of the second mission of Hypatia Mars. Source: Hypatia.