{"id":322175,"date":"2025-12-03T06:54:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/322175\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T06:54:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:54:13","slug":"nasa-uses-death-valley-to-test-next-gen-drone-tech-for-flights-across-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/322175\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA uses Death Valley to test next-gen drone tech for flights across Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA is testing next-generation Mars drone tech in a place a lot like the Red Planet – <\/a>California\u2019s Mojave Desert in Death Valley National Park.<\/p>\n

They flew three research drones over the barren, featureless dunes in April and September, hoping to make improvements to their navigation software.<\/p>\n

Similar dunes on Mars had confused the navigation of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during several of its last flights, the agency noted.<\/p>\n

The helicopter, which launched with the Perseverance Mars rover<\/a> in 2021, completed 72 flights \u2014 greatly exceeding its planned lifespan before becoming damaged during landing in January 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cIngenuity was designed to fly over well-textured terrain, estimating its motion by looking at visual features on the ground. But eventually it had to cross over blander areas where this became hard,\u201d Roland Brockers, a researcher and drone pilot at NASA\u2019s Southern California Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"NASA<\/p>\n

NASA scientists test a research drone in the Dumont Dunes area of California\u2019s Mojave Desert last September (NASA\/JPL-Caltech)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want future vehicles to be more versatile and not have to worry about flying over challenging areas like these sand dunes,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

NASA has been testing desert drones in Death Valley, known widely as the hottest place on Earth, since the 1970s, when they were preparing to land the twin Viking spacecraft.<\/p>\n

The present-day engineers also traveled to the park\u2019s Mars Hill<\/a>, an otherworldly remnant of a past lava flow, as well as the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes \u2014 in scorching temperatures reaching as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n

The researchers found that using different camera filters can help the drones track the ground, with new algorithms to take them down safely.<\/p>\n

And the rippling Dumont Dunes offered variation, further delineating the importance of protecting the national park, Death Valley National Park Superintendent Mike Reynolds noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a powerful reminder that the park is protected not just for its scenic beauty or recreational opportunities, but as a living laboratory that actively helps us understand desert environments and worlds beyond our own,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Researchers<\/p>\n

Researchers gather under a tent in Death Valley National Park while monitoring a research drone (NASA\/JPL-Caltech)<\/p>\n

But Death Valley isn\u2019t the only national park NASA uses for Mars-related testing.<\/p>\n

Researchers at NASA\u2019s Texas-based Johnson Space Center tested a dog-like robot called LASSIE-M \u2013 or \u201cLegged Autonomous Surface Science In Analogue Environments for Mars\u201d \u2013 at White Sands National Park in New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Researchers hope the robot can serve as a scout on Mars, scaling rocky or sandy terrains that can be dangerous for rovers.<\/p>\n

Others at NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, are testing the Mars Electric Reusable Flyer: a drone with a propeller that\u2019s about the size of a small school bus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA is testing next-generation Mars drone tech in a place a lot like the Red Planet – California\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,142806,13719,63773,142807,142805,142808,307,142810,66,142809],"class_list":["post-322175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-death-valley","tag-death-valley-national-park","tag-drone-pilot","tag-dumont-dunes","tag-ingenuity-mars-helicopter","tag-mojave-desert","tag-nasa","tag-navigation-software","tag-science","tag-southern-california-jet-propulsion-laboratory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}