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
Feb 01, 2016
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Jan 27, 2016
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Jan 27, 2016
Election year windfall funding for NASA will allow work on the Orion crew capsule to proceed more quickly than expected.
Jan 27, 2016
Back-to-back landing tests mark rapid pace of private space sector achievements.
Jan 25, 2016
Australian researchers pursue a different approach to cutting launch costs—a wing-borne, fly-back booster and a reusable, scramjet-powered second stage.