Subsurface Planetary Investigations with
Radar and AnaLogs (SPIRAL) Lab
PI: Ali Bramson
The SPIRAL Lab features a variety of equipment and software for field and experimental analog studies related to surface/subsurface planetary investigations.
Equipment:
- MALÅ GroundExplorer (Gx) GPR antennas at the following frequencies:
- 80 MHz
- 160 MHz
- 450 MHz
- 750 MHz
- Sensors and Software PulseEKKO GPR with antennas at the following frequencies:
- 50 MHz
- 100 MHz
- 200 MHz
- GSSI StructureScan MiniXT (2700 MHz) with Palm XT (2300 MHz) ("Baby Radar")
- DJI Mini 3 Pro drone with DJI RC remote controller
- Emlid Reach RS3 Multi-band RTK GNSS receivers with tilt compensation
- Oscilloscope
- Wave function generator
- MGS-1 Global Mars Simulant from Exolith Labs
- Vevor 110V electric ice shaving machine with adjustable ice texture
- Great Northern IceCub commercial ice shaver
- 70 gallon transluscent rugged experimental tank (the "ExBox")
Software on Lab Computers:
- GSSI Radan 7
- MALA Vision Pro - Online, cloud-based radar processing
- Sensors and Software EKKO_Project
- Geolitix - Online, cloud-based radar processing (educational license)
- Seisware (3 academic licenses)
- ENVI
- JMARS
- Matlab
- Adobe suite
Relevant Equipment in other labs in EAPS or at Purdue that we use:
- Agilent E4991A RF Impedance/Material Analyzer (Rock Physics Lab, PI: Doug Schmitt)
- Walk in -20C freezer (Purdue Stable Isotope (PSI) Lab, PIs: Lisa Welp and Greg Michalski)
- Cutting edge scientific computing and data storage resources (Purdue's Rosen Center for Advanced Computing (RCAC))
![Riley pulling the 80 MHz radar](images/Lab/80MHz.jpg)
80 MHz GPR antenna inside the Kentland impact crater in Northwest Indiana.
![450 MHz radar collecting data in Utah during an analog astronaut mission](images/Adventures/Radar_MarsAnalog.jpg)
450 MHz GPR antenna collecting soil moisture data in Utah during a Mars analog mission.
![Ice shaving machines](images/Lab/IceShavers.jpg)
Ice shaving machines.
![ExBox_Ice_Riley.jpg](images/Lab/ExBox_Ice_Riley.jpg)
The SPIRAL Lab's ExBox inside the -20C walk-in freezer, with
Riley using "Baby Radar" to take measurements of the ice in the ExBox.
Useful Links for Lab Members (login and access required):