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Without new landers or rovers, it's helicopters or bust for NASA's Mars program

✇Ars Technica
By: Stephen Clark
1 September 2026 at 07:00

For the first time in more than 30 years, NASA has no firm plans to send any new landers or rovers to Mars. Instead, the agency's near-term focus at the red planet is on aerial drones, a pioneering mode of exploration that didn't seem realistic until a few years ago.

The first real use of drones for science at Mars will come with the SkyFall mission, a fleet of three helicopters set for launch as soon as late 2028. SkyFall's helicopters will ride to the red planet with NASA's Space Reactor-1 "Freedom" mission, which has the primary objective of demonstrating nuclear electric propulsion in deep space.

The launch schedule is aggressive for SR-1 Freedom and SkyFall, projects that didn't even exist in NASA's portfolio six months ago. NASA's plan for the SR-1 Freedom mission, estimated to cost $2.1 billion, calls for repurposing the core module of the canceled Gateway lunar space station into a testbed for nuclear electric propulsion. SkyFall will build on NASA's success with the Ingenuity helicopter, an experimental vehicle that became the first rotorcraft to fly on another world in 2021.

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NASA’s SkyFall Helicopters at Work (Artist’s Concept)

✇NASA Breaking News
6 August 2026 at 14:06
2 Min Read

NASA’s SkyFall Helicopters at Work (Artist’s Concept)

Three drone helicopters fly over a barren, reddish-brown rocky landscape. The foreground drone and two smaller drones in the background all project wavy, translucent red and green beams of light downward onto the rugged terrain below.
PIA26760
Credits:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

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NASA’s SkyFall Helicopters at Work (Artist’s Concept)

JPEG (3.25 MB)

Description

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s three SkyFall Mars helicopters collecting data while flying over the surface of the Red Planet. 

The green frequency waves emanating from the helicopters’ large antennas depict collection of subsurface radar data. The red beams depict collect near-infrared imagery data from regolith (crushed rock and dust) and other surface features.

Equipped with four instruments each, the three helicopters will follow in the footsteps of the agency’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, a technology demonstrator that flew 72 times over nearly three years, proving that powered, controlled flight is possible in the rarefied Martian atmosphere. It also demonstrated how an aerial perspective can generate valuabledata by helping NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover team plan time-saving routes and choose locations for science-gathering. 

SkyFall is expected to launch aboard NASA’s Space Reactor-1 Freedom in late 2028. 

The SkyFall project, which will carry three Mars helicopters to the Red Planet in December 2028, is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. AeroVironment of Arlington, Virginia — which worked with JPL to design and build the history-making Ingenuity rotorcraft — will co-design and co-manufacture the SkyFall helicopters. Managed by Caltech for NASA, JPL manages the overall Mars Exploration Program on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. 

For more information about NASA’s SkyFall:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/skyfall/

Antenna Testing for NASA’s SkyFall Mission

✇NASA Breaking News
6 August 2026 at 13:56
1 Min Read

Antenna Testing for NASA’s SkyFall Mission

A gloved person in striped shirt and glasses attaches a blue cable to a device with a metallic base and a translucent-appearing pane. The background is a chamber lined with grey and blue geometric foam acoustic panels.
PIA26759
Credits:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Antenna Testing for NASA’s SkyFall Mission

JPEG (30.46 MB)

Description

SkyFall ground-penetrating radar engineer Maya Román connects a coaxial cable to a test antenna in the Environmental Test Lab’s electromagnetic interference testing chamber at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. 

The antenna was pointed up during test to minimize reflections and interferences with the antenna pattern during the measurement.

Equipped with four instruments each, the three SkyFall aircraft will follow in the footsteps of the agency’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which flew 72 times over nearly three years, proving that powered, controlled flight is possible in the rarefied Martian atmosphere. It also demonstrated how an aerial perspective can generate valuable data by helping NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover team plan time-saving routes and choose locations for science-gathering. 

SkyFall is expected to launch aboard NASA’s Space Reactor-1 Freedom in late 2028.

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