A field test has been recently carried out on the antenna of the Radar for Icy Moon Exploration - RIME (Principal Investigator: Prof. Lorenzo Bruzzone) that will be on board the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE).

The test was conducted using a helicopter operating out of a glider airport in Heiligenberg, close to Friedrichshafen, Germany. To measure key characteristics of the antenna and to verify software simulations, the 17 meters carbon fiber dipole antenna was mounted on a simplified mock-up of the spacecraft and hung 150 m below the helicopter, which hovered between 50 and 320 m above the ground. The test was successful and provided very important data for optimizing the RIME design. A video of the experiment is available here

For more details and interviews see European Space Agency (ESA) and Italian Space Agency (ASI) press release at the link below.

ESA press release

ASI press release