NASA is set to send a helicopter to mars with its 2020 Rover. If successful, the helicopter will be able to cover more ground and send back more pictures than anything roaming around on the ground. The question is, how will a helicopter work in the thin Mars atmosphere? I guess there’s only one way to find out.

 

 

 

According to BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld), the design team spent more than four years shrinking a working helicopter down to the size of a softball and cut the weight of the craft down to 4lbs. The chopper was specifically designed to fly in Mars’ atmosphere, which is 100 times thinner than that of the Earth’s. Interesting. Check out a demonstration of how the mini-helicopter will work on Mars below:

 

 

 

Video Courtesy: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory