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
Mar 09, 2015
Truck-stopping laser; Lockheed backs Rocket Lab smallsat booster; quantum radar entangles microwaves and optics; CMCs feel the heat in GE engine tests; Kalashnikov buys into Russian UAV maker, and other unmanned news.
Mar 06, 2015
CEOs are often unprepared for their myriad challenges. Pressure to consolidate across borders could ratchet up the pressure.
Mar 04, 2015
CETel and satellite operator ARABSAT are stepping into the extended C-band with their jointly built earth station, offering unprecedented business expansion possibilities with the launch of teleport facilities, network and broadband services as well as solution design across the whole African continent, Middle East, Europe and Central Asia on board ARABSATs state-of-the-art satellite Arabsat-5C on 20 degrees East.
Mar 04, 2015
Three spacecraft, with a fourth to follow, are exploring frozen worlds that may explain the origin of life on Earth.
Mar 04, 2015
Kremlin bloviating notwithstanding, both the U.S. and Russia understand that human-spaceflight cooperation is a buffer against hostility.
Mar 03, 2015
Watch Mark Carreau interview NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Terry Virts aboard the International Space Station.
Mar 01, 2015
"That was an amazing effort," said NASA spacewalker Terry Virts.
Feb 26, 2015
A rare glimpse of the world's largest aircraft under assembly in Mojave, California