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
May 04, 2017
Orbital ATK, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance are key contenders for the Air Force’s EELV launch service investments.
May 03, 2017
Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Dream Chaser uses guidance, navigation and control techniques first developed for astronaut flights in the 1960s.
May 02, 2017
CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall met Valanathan Munsami, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), on the sidelines of the meeting of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS).
Apr 28, 2017
Trump and NATO defense spending; investor calls on Musk to stop cooperating with the president; the F-35’s air show prospects; and goodbye to a government shutdown.
Apr 27, 2017
The UAE Space Agency has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with its Algerian counterpart the Algerian Space Agency.
Apr 27, 2017
Tianzhou is most like the Japanese HTV cargo craft used to supply the ISS. Tianzhous will burn up on reentry, unlike the similar-sized SpaceX Dragon.
Apr 26, 2017
CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall was at a conference organized by the Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology and the French Embassy in Morocco to give a talk on the challenges of space exploration and the Galileo programme.
Apr 26, 2017
How technical advances are enabling space-based challengers to take on terrestrial internet services.