Last year, NASA hit a snag when the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter crashed on Mars. The space agency concluded that the crash was caused by the helicopter's inability to discern flat ground from featureless sand dunes. To avoid such a snag in the future, a team of NASA scientists recently descended upon Death Valley, California, to brave the heat and test a team of research drones over similar featureless areas.
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"Ingenuity was designed to fly over well-textured terrain, estimating its motion by looking at visual features on the ground," said Roland Brockers, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory drone pilot and researcher. "But eventually it had to cross over blander areas where this became hard. We want future vehicles to be more versatile and not have to worry about flying over challenging areas like these sand dunes."
It's not the first time NASA has taken a field trip to the hottest place on Earth. The agency has used Death Valley since the 1970s to test various technologies in preparation for journeys to Mars. This time around, the team was testing Extended Robust Aerial Autonomy software, an autonomous flight system designed to handle a greater range of terrains on Mars. This would prevent another Ingenuity-style incident involving future Mars helicopters.
The team had to endure temperatures that reached a maximum of around 113 degrees Fahrenheit, with only a small pop-up tent to shield them from the intense sun and heat. While NASA has used Death Valley for testing for decades, the JPL team that went in 2025 was only the third team ever to obtain a license to fly research drones at Death Valley.
Death Valley officials were only too happy to accommodate the researchers.
"It's a powerful reminder that the park is protected not just for its scenic beauty, but as a living laboratory that actively helps us understand desert environments," said Death Valley National Park Superintendent Mike Reynolds.
JPL researchers huddled under tents to stay cool in Death Valley's blazing hot temperatures while they tested drones. NASA/JPL-Caltech
Useful findings
All of this testing took place in April and September, so NASA has had some time to review the data and determine what worked. According to the agency, the findings showed that different camera filters were effective for various types of terrain, and the improved algorithms enabled drones to descend and land more safely.
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