First Flight On Mars

On April 19, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter became the first aircraft to fly on another planet.

Our most recent package details the historic first flight of the 4-lb. robotic rotorcraft, which lasted 39.1 seconds, and its follow-up venture on April 22, and looks ahead to its future test program. The technology lays the groundwork for aerial exploration of Mars, an aeronautical feat given the air density of Mars is less than 1% of the density on Earth. See below for more.

“How do we use aerial mobility in the future on Mars, to help not just robotic exploration, but to help human exploration?”
Ellen Stofan
Smithsonian
Jun 28, 2017
Calt is pursuing three paths to reusable space launch: lifting bodies and, for wingless rockets, parachute recovery and powered landings.
Jun 28, 2017
Calt will make Long March 8 with propulsion modules from other space launchers. Long March 5B will omit a module.
Jun 28, 2017
Casc’s Xian propulsion institute will lighten its P35 solid-propellant motor, then develop a larger derivative, presumably for a new space launcher
Jun 28, 2017
Airbus and startup OneWeb are preparing to manufacture satellites at an unprecedented pace—one per day.
Jun 28, 2017
Looking back on a career illuminated by a love of words, science and the sheer excitement of the promise and peril of space exploration.
Jun 26, 2017
Trump administration boosts military space budget by 5% compared to last year’s projections, provides seed funding for six new programs.
Jun 21, 2017
Compared to the cold radioactive vacuum of space, survival in combat is a piece of cake.
Jun 21, 2017
Thales Alenia Space is to take a “minority stake” in Airstar Aerospace, a company with know-how in balloon envelopes, in a bid to advance its Stratobus telecommunications airship project.