Mars Technology Development
NASA’s Mars Exploration Program is nurturing the development of technologies that will enable broader, deeper, closer, more wide-ranging investigations and understanding of the Red Planet, while promoting innovation among NASA centers and commercial partners, and driving beyond the achievements of robotic landers, rovers, and rotorcraft, to the eventual human exploration of Mars.
A researcher from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California monitors a drone as it flies over sand dunes in September 2025. This image was captured in Death Valley National Park during a larger test campaign to develop navigation software that would guide future rotorcraft on Mars, helping them track the surface of especially bland, featureless terrain similar to the sand dunes in parts of Death Valley. The work was among 25 projects funded by NASA’s Mars Exploration Program this past year to push the limits of future technologies.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Technology Projects and Solicitations
Mars Technology News
Article
6 min read
NASA Tests Drones in Death Valley, Preps for Martian Sands and Skies
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5 min read
NASA JPL Unveils Rover Operations Center for Moon, Mars Missions
NASA’s Oxygen-Generating Experiment MOXIE Completes Mars Mission
When the first astronauts land on Mars, they may have the descendants of a microwave-oven-size device to thank for the air they breathe and the rocket propellant that gets them home.
