AV Awarded Contract for Three Autonomous Helicopters in Support of NASA’s SkyFall Mission to Mars

AV partnering with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to unlock new research capabilities above and below the Martian surface ahead of a planned 2028 launch.

ARLINGTON, Va., August 27, 2026--AeroVironment, Inc. ("AV"), a global defense technology leader, today announced that its MacCready Works advanced solutions team has been awarded a contract for the co-design and co-manufacture of three Mars helicopters for NASA's SkyFall mission with the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), taking the project from future concept to a formally funded Mars science mission and a path toward launch in late 2028.

SkyFall is the first mission to fly a team of three instrument-carrying helicopters on Mars, demonstrating a fully integrated system capable of autonomous atmospheric entry and powered descent.

AV and JPL are building on their experience as co‑developers of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which completed 72 historic flights at Jezero Crater. Together, the teams are evolving Ingenuity‑derived designs into SkyFall: an active NASA mission under the Science Mission Directorate, optimized to deliver high‑value science for the Mars Exploration Program.

"With Ingenuity, AV and JPL proved we could fly on Mars. Now, with SkyFall, we're taking AV's high‑volume uncrewed systems mindset into planetary exploration and showing that Mars helicopters can be built as a repeatable product line, not a one‑off delivery," said Jeff Rodrian, Head of MacCready Works, AV's advanced research and development organization. "It's also a powerful example of public‑private partnership; AV and JPL building on Ingenuity's success to create a helicopter platform that NASA can apply to many different science missions over multiple launch windows."

AV is leading the design and production of key elements of the SkyFall helicopters, including rotor systems, airframes, structures, avionics integration, and accommodation for multiple science payloads. JPL is leading the design and development of the power system, electronics, algorithms and software. The helicopters will carry a JPL‑designed ground‑penetrating radar (GPR) to look below the Martian surface, delivering new insight into shallow subsurface ice, central to both Mars science and future human exploration.

New to this mission is a new "SkyFall maneuver." This technique releases the three helicopters directly from the carrier spacecraft into the Martian atmosphere, where they separate, deploy, descend, and land under their own power. By eliminating the need for a single-use lander stage or a host rover (as Ingenuity required with Perseverance), this approach significantly reduces the technical and financial risk of getting to the Martian surface.