I know nothing about this thing, but I would have thought the plasma would be on the underside of the craft, allowing any antennae on the top to communicate with a satellite that could relay everything to/from the ground station.
I'm guessing it's not going straight down, and most of the speed is actually on the x axis. The atmosphere is how much? 50 km? While the descent path is most likely counted in thousands.
I know nothing about this thing, but I would have thought the plasma would be on the underside of the craft, allowing any antennae on the top to communicate with a satellite that could relay everything to/from the ground station.