Researchers Monitor Drone Testing in 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. Sand dunes confused the navigation algorithm of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter during several of its last flights, including its 72nd and final flight on the Red Planet in January 2024. The navigation software in development would help future rotorcraft track the surface of especially bland, featureless terrain similar to the barren sand dunes seen in Death Valley’s Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes as well as in Dumont Dunes in the Mojave Desert, where testing was also conducted. Tests included flights over a region in Death Valley called Mars Hill, which is littered with rubbly volcanic rocks and has been used by NASA’s Mars researchers since the 1970s, during preparations for the Viking lander missions.