Research Drone Flies Over Mars Hill

One of three drones used in recent tests by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California flies over Mars Hill, a region of Death Valley National Park, in September 2025. The region’s rubbly, volcanic rocks have served as a Mars-like testing area and analog site for scientists since the 1970s, when NASA was preparing to land the twin Viking spacecraft on the Red Planet. The drone research — tests of navigation software for the Martian surface — was one of 25 projects funded by NASA’s Mars Exploration Program this past year to push the limits of future technologies. Sand dunes confused the navigation algorithm of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter during several of its last flights, including its 72nd and final flight on the Red Planet in January 2024. The navigation software in development would help future rotorcraft to track the surface of especially bland, featureless terrain similar to the barren sand dunes seen in parts of Death Valley and in the Mojave Desert and to land safely in cluttered environments like Mars Hill.