Caped Mars drones: NASA's SkyFall to peer beneath the planet's surface
TL;DR
NASA’s SkyFall mission will send three tiny Mars rotorcraft in 2028 to test a lightweight, flexible radar antenna that looks like a cape. The capes bend during landing and unfold for subsurface scans up to about 5 meters deep, enabling high‑resolution radar images to locate shallow ice—crucial for water, oxygen, and fuel for future missions. Each antenna weighs about 5 ounces, and extensive testing simulates tens of landings to ensure durability. SkyFall builds on Ingenuity’s legacy and is planned to launch aboard the nuclear‑powered Space Reactor-1 Freedom interplanetary spacecraft.
- NASA's SkyFall Mars helicopters will wear tiny capes Space
- NASA’s SkyFall Helicopters at Work (Artist’s Concept) NASA Science (.gov)
- Antenna Testing For NASA's SkyFall Mission Mirage News
- NASA SkyFall’s Featherweight Radar Antenna Survives 200 Mars Landings TechEBlog -
- SkyFall on Mars: Water-snooping Helicopters Spun Up Inside Outer Space
Want the full story? Read the original reporting
Read on Space