On December 12, 2024, NASA introduced the design concept for a new Mars helicopter named Chopper, which features six rotors and is significantly heavier than its predecessor, Ingenuity. This new vehicle is projected to be 20 times heavier than Ingenuity, which was deployed in 2021.
Chopper is designed to be the size of a small SUV and will have six blades on each rotor. It is capable of transporting scientific payloads weighing up to 5 kilograms over distances of up to 3 kilometers each Martian day (sol). The longest flight achieved by Ingenuity was 704 meters.
The helicopter's capabilities will allow scientists to conduct detailed studies of large terrain areas that are inaccessible to rovers. This advancement is a result of the successful operation of Ingenuity, which completed 72 flights over three years on Mars. NASA engineers are currently testing smaller and lighter avionics that could be utilized in future vehicle designs for the Mars Sample Return mission, aimed at bringing selected samples back to Earth.
The concept was presented by Teddy Tzanetos, the project director for Chopper at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, during a briefing at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington. Tzanetos emphasized that Ingenuity has provided the confidence and data necessary to envision the future of aerial exploration on Mars.