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
Jan 16, 2025
See the cover of the Dec. 20, 1965 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology , which shows the tip path of a 43 -ft. antenna displaced from the vertical and allowed to swing freely in a vacuum chamber at Goddard Flight Center.
Jan 16, 2025
The Department of the Air Force, in a report released Jan. 13 that looks at its future, paints a picture of space as becoming a cold or potentially hot battlefield.
Jan 15, 2025
To make up ground it is losing to SpaceX, China and others, Europe is looking to infuse greater competition into its space launch industry.
Jan 10, 2025
The UAE Space Agency and the Technology Innovation Institute (TII) have signed an agreement to design and develop the EMA Lander.
Jan 10, 2025
The revised plan shaves billions from projected program costs.
Jan 08, 2025
The 2024 launch rate surpassed the 223 orbital launch attempts in 2023, the previous record.
Jan 08, 2025
Human brainpower is becoming the era’s chief bottleneck.
Jan 07, 2025
Biomodule spacecraft designed to orbit 24 opossum fetuses in a controllable low-gravity environment had been proposed to the Air Force as a quick means of gaining a relatively large volume of experimental data on weightlessness.