A light weight radar altimeter-driftmeter applicable to landing planetary probes is described. The system utilizes a small light weight phased array antenna to generate three independent radio frequency beams. The range and Doppler along each of these beams is measured. The six measured quantitites are then combined with a resulting range (altitude) accuracy of 75 meters and a horizontal drift velocity accuracy of 6 cmsec. The entire system weighs less than 3.7 kilograms and requires less than 9 watts of dc power. (Author)
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