FOR MORE BREAKING STORIES GO HERE SAYSIT.NET

As investigations continue into the hantavirus outbreak that originated on

A Washington city councilwoman said she would rather fly a

There was some police activity near Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s home. A

Tennessee Republicans pass new gerrymander following Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act ruling

Poll: Voters aren’t so sure about Trump’s sweeping election bill

Menin’s Fair Fares push tests Mamdani

It has only been a month since Southwest Airlines’ first

NASA’s Next-Gen Mars Helicopter Rotors Are Moving Fast

1 Min Read

NASA’s Next-Gen Mars Helicopter Rotors Are Moving Fast

A man in a white clean room suit inspects a horizontal three-bladed rotor. To the right, a vertical two-bladed rotor with a checkered pattern is mounted. Both sit within a large, white industrial testing chamber filled with scaffolding and equipment.

PIA26648

Credits:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Downloads

NASA’s Next-Gen Mars Helicopter Rotors Are Moving Fast

JPEG (1.34 MB)

Description

Engineer Jaakko Karras inspects a next-generation Mars helicopter rotor blade prior to supersonic speed testing in the 25-Foot Space Simulator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in November 2025. The three-bladed rotor hanging horizontally in the foreground is the next-gen rotor being tested. The vertically aligned two-bladed rotor provided a “headwind,” enabling the tips of the three-bladed rotor to go beyond Mach 1. Data from the tests indicate that the next-gen rotor could surpass the sound barrier without breaking apart.

The agency’s Mars Exploration Program funded the test campaign in pursuit of maximizing the capability of future aircraft flying at the Red Planet. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, JPL manages the Mars Exploration Program for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Keep Exploring