NASA Breaks Sound Barrier With New Mars Helicopter Rotors
NASA engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory pushed experimental Mars helicopter rotor blades past the speed of sound during supersonic tests in March.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
On this day in space! Aug. 27, 1962: NASA launches Mariner 2 to Venus
On August 27, 1962, NASA launched Mariner 2 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, beginning a historic 3.5-month voyage to Venus.
NASA SkyFall Mars helicopters to feature flexible antennas
NASA is developing a flexible Vivaldi antenna made of polyester and Vectran to equip three SkyFall Mars helicopters for late 2028. The innovative 5-ounce radar system will fold during landings and spring back into position to detect shallow subsurface ice beneath the Martian regolith. Mars exploration is about to get a lot lower to the … Read more
NASA Zeros In On Flexible Radar Antennas For Mars SkyFall Mission
NASA engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have tested a flexible, violin-shaped Vivaldi radar antenna designed for the Mars SkyFall mission, successfully surviving 200 simulated landings in an electromagnetic testing chamber ahead of a planned late 2028 launch. Engineers clearing hardware milestones for upcoming Martian exploration face an unusual geometry problem: how to carry a … Read more