NASA’s incredible Ingenuity helicopter spent nearly three flying across the surface of Mars, becoming the first aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight on a planet other than Earth.
After suffering damage to one of its blades in early 2024, Ingenuity was grounded for good, and now rests on the martian surface as a testament to technological innovation and the triumph of autonomous flight on another planet.
In an exciting development, the plucky helicopter has now inspired Skyfall, a mission concept recently unveiled by Virginia-based AeroVironment (AV) and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), who worked together to develop the Ingenuity aircraft.
As you can see in the video at the top of this page, the Skyfall mission is designed to deploy not one but six helicopters on Mars, each of which would fly off to explore various locations selected by NASA as potential landing spots for the first crewed mission to the red planet, which could take place in the 2030s. The gathered data could also help scientists learn more about Mars, contributing to the expanding database of information collected by other Mars vehicles such as the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers.
The video shows the dramatic Skyfall Maneuver, described by AV as “an innovative entry, descent, and landing technique whereby the six rotorcraft deploy from their entry capsule during its descent through the martian atmosphere.”
With the helicopters flying down to the Mars surface under their own power, the Skyfall system would do away with the need for a landing platform, which is one of the most expensive parts of any Mars mission and also carries huge risk.
Just like Ingenuity, each helicopter would be capable of operating autonomously, and beam high-resolution imagery back to Earth for analysis, allowing mission planners to select the best possible landing location for the first human mission.
“Skyfall offers a revolutionary new approach to Mars exploration that is faster and more affordable than anything that’s come before it,” said William Pomerantz, head of space ventures at AV. “Thanks to a true partnership between industry and government, we’re expanding the unprecedented success of Ingenuity.”
Pomerantz added that with six helicopters, “Skyfall offers a low-cost solution that multiplies the range we would cover, the data we would collect, and the scientific research we would conduct, making humanity’s first footprints on Mars meaningfully closer.”
With NASA’s first human missions in mind and the need to identify an ideal landing area, AV is already working with NASA’s JPL in the hope of getting the green light for the mission before working toward a potential 2028 launch.
