AeroVironment Pitches a New Mars Helicopter

Aerospace technology firm throws its hat in the ring with a new concept for future rotorcraft missions on the Red Planet.

Jack Daleo

Friday, July 25, 2025 at 07:00 AM ET

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Jack Daleo

AeroVironment’s Skyfall concept is designed to enable future helicopter missions on Mars. [Courtesy: AeroVironment]

Key Takeaways:

AeroVironment, in collaboration with NASA JPL, unveiled "Skyfall," a concept for a fleet of six next-generation Mars scout helicopters targeted for deployment by 2028.
Building on the success of the Mars Ingenuity helicopter, Skyfall aims to provide faster, more affordable data collection to revolutionize Mars exploration.
The system proposes a unique "Skyfall maneuver" where six autonomous helicopters deploy from a mothership during descent, eliminating the need for a dedicated landing platform.
These helicopters will gather subsurface radar data to locate resources like water and identify optimal sites for future astronaut missions and human landings on Mars.

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AeroVironment’s aptly named Skyfall is like something out of a James Bond movie.

The aerospace technology firm on Thursday unveiled the concept, which it described as a system for potential future helicopter missions on Mars. Codeveloped with engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Skyfall could deploy a small fleet of self-flying rotorcraft to the Red Planet by 2028, AeroVironment said.