Skip to content Testing shows rotor blades won’t disintegrate when they spin at supersonic speed. Artist's illustration of the SkyFall helicopters preparing for deployment on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech A little more than three years since NASA’s Ingenuity  helicopter ended its pioneering mission at Mars, engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California are designing next-generation Martian rotorcraft to carry heavier payloads longer distances through the planet’s low-density atmosphere. Ingenuity  was a resounding success , becoming the first airborne platform to explore another world. The dual-bladed helicopter made 72 flights, overachieving NASA’s original goal of five flights over 30 days, after delivery to Mars by the Perseverance  rover. By the time the mission ended with a crash-landing in January 2024,  Ingenuity  had shown scientists a new way to explore other worlds, using air to travel longer distances and reach locations inaccessible to ground vehicles.…