Helicopters Are Coming to a Planet Near You

The first space missions humans sent to Mars were flybys. Spacecraft had one chance to observe the planet before hurtling away, never to return. Then came the orbiters, designed to be captured by Mars’s gravity and stick around. Eventually, the orbiters started bringing landers with them, dropping them on the rust-colored surface. Then came the rovers, built to move along the rocky terrain. Over decades, these artifacts—some still running, others defunct and coated in dust—have created a kind of museum exhibit on Mars, a timeline of human technology as it matures.

In a few hopes to add a new kind of machine to the display.