For the first time in more than 30 years, Arstechnica has no firm plans to send any new landers or rovers to Mars. Instead, the agency’s near-term focus at the red planet has shifted toward aerial drones, setting the stage for the newly advanced SkyFall mission.
NASA Shifting Focus to Aerial Drones as Mars Program Changes Course
The mission will deploy a fleet of three instrument-equipped helicopters designed to gather data above and below the Martian surface. The project has moved from a proposed concept into a funded science mission ahead of a planned November 2028 launch window. The helicopters are set to ride to Mars alongside NASA’s Space Reactor-1 Freedom mission, an effort estimated to cost $2.1 billion that aims to demonstrate nuclear electric propulsion in deep space by repurposing the core module of the canceled Gateway lunar space station.
Building on the Success of Ingenuity
The SkyFall endeavor builds directly upon the legacy of the Ingenuity helicopter, an experimental vehicle that landed at Jezero Crater with the Perseverance rover and became the first rotorcraft to fly on another world in 2021. Although originally planned for just five test flights, Ingenuity ultimately completed 72 missions over three years before suffering a crash landing in early 2024.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is partnering with AeroVironment—working through its MacCready Works advanced solutions team—to co-design and co-manufacture the new helicopters, along with one spare. Officials emphasize that the new vehicles are intended to establish rotorcraft as a repeatable product line. With Ingenuity, AV and JPL proved we could fly on Mars. Now, with SkyFall, we’re taking AV’s high-volume uncrewed systems mindset into planetary exploration and showing that Mars helicopters can be built as a repeatable product line, not a one‑off delivery,
said Jeff Rodrian, head of MacCready Works at AeroVironment.
Innovative Deployment and Technical Upgrades
Unlike Ingenuity, which relied on the Perseverance rover for transit, protection, and communications relay, the SkyFall helicopters will utilize a distinct deployment strategy. The mission calls for a SkyFall maneuver, in which the aircraft separate from a carrier spacecraft and descend to the Martian surface independently under their own power, eliminating the need for a single-use lander stage or a host rover.
The new helicopters feature several technical improvements over their predecessor:
- Size and Payload: The SkyFall aircraft are somewhat larger than Ingenuity—measuring about 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) compared to 1.8 kilograms (4 pounds)—and feature upgraded rotors to manage a heavier payload.
- Scientific Instruments: While Ingenuity carried only two cameras and lacked sophisticated science gear, each SkyFall helicopter carries a suite of cameras and sensors to collect atmospheric and dust data, alongside a JPL-designed ground-penetrating radar to search for shallow subsurface ice.
- Communications: SkyFall is capable of transmitting and receiving data directly through communications relay orbiters flying overhead, removing the requirement for a ground base station.
Expanding Capabilities and Future Exploration
According to Will Pomerantz, head of space ventures at AeroVironment, the rotorcraft are expected to reach regions of the red planet that are otherwise difficult or impossible to access from the ground. Just like here on Earth, Mars helicopters can cover distance quickly and can go places that might be impossible to reach by ground,
Pomerantz stated, noting the mission will return mountains of data for scientists to pore over.
Beyond gathering pure science data, project leadership notes that the mission functions as a human precursor initiative. By gathering high-resolution data at potential landing sites, the mission is intended to make future exploration safer and more efficient for NASA and commercial space ventures alike.
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