NASA To Add Two Small Helicopters to Mars Sample Return Armada

Irene Klotz August 03, 2022

joint Mars Sample Return Mission rendering — NASA and ESA are working on a simpler plan for the joint Mars Sample Return Mission that cancels a fetch rover and adds a pair of helicopters to serve as backup transports for Perseverance.
Credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech

NASA had hoped to one day parlay the technologies developed to demonstrate powered flight on Mars into operational missions. But engineers on the ongoing Ingenuity helicopter program did not expect to do so in the next 18 months. With the Mars Perseverance rover operating well and its companion...

Irene Klotz

Irene Klotz is Senior Space Editor for Aviation Week, based in Cape Canaveral. Before joining Aviation Week in 2017, Irene spent 25 years as a wire service reporter covering human and robotic spaceflight, commercial space, astronomy, science and technology for Reuters and United Press International.

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