Operational Concepts and Technology Development for Passive Radar Sounding

This opportunity solicits proposals to advance passive radar sounding for planetary exploration through a combination of technology development, field validation, and operational concept studies. Passive radar sounding, which exploits naturally occurring radio emissions as signals of opportunity, presents unique challenges compared to active systems, including variability in signal availability, geometric constraints, and the need for specialized processing. Proposals should address these challenges directly, with an emphasis on operational strategies that enable reliable data acquisition and interpretation under realistic planetary conditions. Projects may include the design and maturation of new passive radar technologies, the development of signal processing and data analysis methods, and the integration of passive sounding with complementary datasets to extract subsurface structure and volatile information. Field demonstrations using drones or other platforms to replicate mission-relevant geometries are strongly encouraged, as they provide essential opportunities to test and validate operational concepts under controlled but realistic conditions. The NASA Postdoctoral Program offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology.