Without new landers or rovers, it's helicopters or bust for NASA's Mars program
NASA's cost estimate for SR-1 Freedom is $2.1 billion, but that doesn't include the helicopters.
For the first time in over three decades, NASA lacks concrete plans to deploy new landers or rovers on Mars. The agency's immediate focus at the red planet is shifting towards aerial drones, a novel mode of exploration that required years of development to become feasible. The inaugural use of drones for scientific purposes on Mars will occur with the SkyFall mission, a trio of helicopters scheduled for launch by late 2028.
SkyFall's helicopters will accompany NASA's Space Reactor-1 Freedom mission, whose primary objective is to showcase nuclear electric propulsion in deep space. The launch timeline for both the SR-1 Freedom and SkyFall projects is exceptionally ambitious, as these missions were not even part of NASA's lineup six months ago. The $2.1 billion SR-1 Freedom mission involves repurposing the core module of the abandoned Gateway lunar space station as a testbed for nuclear electric propulsion.
SkyFall will build upon NASA's successful Ingenuity helicopter, a pioneering vehicle that became the first rotorcraft to take flight on another world in 2021.
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