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 13, 2015
Aviation Week has covered scores of technological triumphs over its history, but no achievement received as much prominence as the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Feb 11, 2015
With FAA approval to use unmanned aircraft for aerial photography and a deal with Planet Labs to buy satellite imagery, Woolpert plans to bring the two together to enable new geospatial information services.
Feb 11, 2015
The Dragon capsule splashed down under parachute, SpaceX confirmed at 7:45 p.m., EST.
Feb 06, 2015
From X-planes to the “black budget” to where the U.S. is placing its technology bets for the future, our editors discuss what’s buried in President Obama’s fiscal 2016 budget request to Congress.
Feb 05, 2015
The object, which the Brazilian Space Agency later identified as a spacecraft propellant tank, fell 50 meters from a house.
Feb 05, 2015
"While these 100 million years may seem negligible...," Italian astronomer Marco Bersanelli
Feb 04, 2015
The Chairman of the UAE Space Agency board Dr. Khalifa Mohammed Al Rumaithi, and the agency's Director General Dr. Mohammad Nasser Al Ahbabi met with a number of ambassadors and representatives from friendly nations to the UAE with advanced space programmes.
Feb 04, 2015
Galileo will comprise a civilian-controlled constellation of 30 satellites, but civil aviation authorities are skeptical that Europe’s space sector can meet navigation and communications safety standards.