Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover antenna components

For the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s X-band High-Gain Antenna, different from the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s Ultra-High Frequency antenna, it communicates directly with Earth. The shape of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s X-band High-Gain Antenna is hexagonal. The diameter of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s X-band High-Gain Antenna is around 30 cm (11.81 inches), and the total weight is around 8 kg (17.64 lbs). For our 1:2 Perseverance Mars Rover Replica, the shape of the X-band High-Gain Antenna is also hexagonal, but the diameter will be around 15 cm (5.9 inches).

The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s X-band High-Gain Antenna consists of 2 components: the high gain antenna subassembly and the Gimbal mechanism subassembly. The purpose of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s X-band High-Gain Antenna is to send information of the rover’s health condition and the data recorded by the scientific instruments to Earth. Also, Earth can send instructions of daily missions for the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover. The Gimbal mechanism allows the antenna to be steerable which saves energy compared with having to rotate its whole body for the antenna to point at Earth. Our Mars Rover replica will perfectly replicate the Gimbal mechanism so it will work exactly the same as the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s X-band Low Gain antenna’s primary purpose is to receive data from Earth’s Deep Space Network antennas. The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s X-band Low Gain antenna’s feature is that it can send and receive data 360°, so it does not need to point in a certain direction to receive data, nor does it need the Gimble mechanism to work more efficiently. This advantage allows the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover to communicate with Earth at all times. Our Perseverance Mars Rover Replica will perfectly replicate the structure appearance of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s X-band Low Gain antenna, but our Mars Rover Replica will not have the actual function like the real Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s X-band Low Gain antenna.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover communicates with Earth via a set of antennas. The antennas are Ultra-High Frequency Antenna, X-band High-Gain Antenna, X-band Low-Gain Antenna, which are all located on the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s top deck. Our 1:2 Peseverance Mars Rover Replica will perfectly replicate the appearance structure of the 3 types of antennas, but they won’ have the actual functions like the real Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s antennas.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s Ultra-High Frequency antenna is located at the back of the rover, really close to the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s power system, MMRTG. Even though the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s Ultra-High Frequency Antenna can communicate directly with Earth, the long-distance could make the process take much longer (around 5 to 20 mins as Mars rotates) and more power. Therefore, in most cases, the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s Ultra-High Frequency antenna does not transmit data to Earth directly, but instead, the data transmission is via the Mars Orbiter antennas, and then the Mars Orbiter antenna will relay information with Earth’s Deep Space Network antennas.

Another advantage to utilizing the Mars Orbiter antenna is that due to the short-distance transmission, the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover‘s Ultra-High Frequency antenna’s frequency rate can go as high as 2 MB/s. For our Perseverance Mars Rover Replica, it won’t need to transmit massive data between remote and the Mars Rover Replica’s receiving modules, but to be closer to the real Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover, we can arrange the receiving module in the structure of the Perseverance Rover Replica‘s Ultra-High Frequency antenna.

If you are interested in our 1:2 Perseverance Mars Rover Replica, you can check out [1:2 Perseverance Mars Rover Replica Design and Building Diary].