NASA to fly 1st robot helicopter on Mars in 2020
NASA would be sending a first-ever autonomous rotorcraft to Mars which would travel with the agency's Mars 2020 rover. Describing the mission's challenges, the project manager said, "The altitude record for helicopter flight on Earth is about 40,000 feet while atmosphere on Mars is only 1% that of Earth. Hence, Mars surface would already be Earth equivalent of 100,000-feet altitude."