NASA’s Mars Helicopter — which is exactly what you think it would be — has recently finished another round of important tests and is expected to be integrated with the rover for the Mars 2020 launch this summer. Getting a heavier-than-air craft to fly on Mars is tough because Martian air is much thinner than Earth’s.
Earlier this year, JPL conducted tests of the helicopter in “a simulated Martian environment” that put the helicopter through temperatures as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit and flew it in a vacuum chamber that simulated Martian air — it was also attached to a “motorized lanyard” to help simulate Martian gravity. Some of the testing was to ensure that the Mars Helicopter could survive the conditions it would experience…
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