Helicopter

Astronomy

Why send one copter to Mars when you can send six?

Hoping to push Mars exploration into top gear and do recon for a future crewed landing, AeroVironment has released its concept for a mission consisting of half a dozen autonomous helicopters that would land on the Red Planet under their own power.

Astronomy

Dragonfly rotorcraft given green light for mission to Titan

NASA has given the green light for the nuclear-powered Dragonfly rotorcraft to explore Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Approval for the 2028 interplanetary mission comes after years of delay due to COVID-19 and a series of cost overruns.

An artist's rendering of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on the Red Planet's surface

Astronomy

Better rotors, higher heights thanks to NASA's dual-planet presence

There aren't any organizations other than NASA that can claim they are operating on two different planets. The space agency is now using that reach to create better helicopter blades on Earth and to push its copter to greater heights on Mars.

Astronomy

NASA's Mars Helicopter makes historic first flight

NASA has made history today, conducting the very first powered flight on another planet. The Mars Helicopter Ingenuity successfully took to the Red Planet skies for a brief jaunt, which will hopefully be the first of several.

The webcam is mounted on a viewing gallery above the clean room floor

Astronomy

24-hour webcam lets you watch as engineers build NASA's next Mars rover

A newly-installed clean room webcam at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is giving members of the public a front row seat as technicians and engineers assemble the Mars 2020 rover.