We just got a glimpse at what NASA’s Skyfall helicopters will look like in action - Popular Science

Three helicopters NASA is preparing to send to Mars will be able to fly hundreds of kilometers across the planet. The data they collect should help prepare for human landings. Scientists are getting ready to select the location where the helicopters will begin their work. Their focus is on plains that may contain deposits of frozen water beneath the surface. Artist’s illustration of NASA’s planned SkyFall helicopters descending toward the Martian surface. Credit: AeroVironment

NASA is accelerating the development of three SkyFall Mars helicopters, which are to depart for the Red Planet in 2028 aboard the Space Reactor-1 Freedom spacecraft. The vehicle, equipped with a nuclear power system, is expected to deliver a capsule containing the aircraft to Mars’ northern hemisphere in spring, when the risk of dust storms is lower, Space.com reports. Independent landingThe three identical helicopters are planned to be released into the Martian atmosphere at an altitude of approximately 1,000 meters. After separation, they are expected to deploy, descend and land on the planet’s surface independently. This deployment method does not involve a single-use lander or a rover carrier, as was the case with Ingenuity, which operated alongside Perseverance. SkyFall is being developed based on the experience of Ingenuity, which completed 72 flights in Jezero Crater, although it was initially designed for only five. The new vehicles will be slightly larger but will operate according to the same principle. They are being designed for six months of operation, with the goal of extending this to one Earth year. More current news is available on the UA.

"Just like here on Earth, Mars helicopters can cover distance quickly and can go places that might be impossible to reach by ground."

New research reveals Denisovan fossils in southwestern China alongside stone tools and animal bones, offering the first glimpse into how these mysterious ancient humans lived, hunted and used their environmentDr. Yonat Eshchar, Davidson Institute of Science Education|In 2019, a reforestation project was underway in southwestern China, aimed at restoring an area where trees had been cut down. During the work, one of the workers came across an abandoned quarry and discovered a "suspiciously large number" of animal bones. He alerted the authorities, and researchers who arrived to investigate discovered a cave containing more than 60,000 fossils and fossil fragments. Most of the finds were animal bones, as the worker had suspected, but among them were stone tools and human bones. GalleryDenisovan holding a stone tool (Illustration: Liat Peli, using ChatGPT)The layers containing the human bones were dated to approximately 134,000 to 167,000 years ago, but it was unclear which human species they belonged to. At the time, several different human populations lived in East Asia, including Neanderthals, Denisovans and the earlier Homo erectus.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researcher Isaiah Santistevan led the development of three-dimensional simulations exploring how a nuclear device could deflect or disrupt an asteroid threatening Earth. Credit: Blaise Douros/LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers are developing three-dimensional simulations to examine how a nuclear device could be used to deflect or potentially disrupt an asteroid threatening Earth.