NASA begins funding hardware for ‘Skyfall’ Mars helicopter mission

NASA’s nuclear-powered mission to Mars is taking shape with the selection of Firefly Aerospace to design and manufacture the protective aeroshell that will shield the Skyfall spacecraft’s descent stage during its plummet through the Martian atmosphere.

Skyfall, slated to be NASA’s first-ever nuclear powered interplanetary probe, is scheduled to launch in 2028 with three helicopters similar to the Ingenuity drone that landed on the Red Planet with the Perseverance rover. The mission is being managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in California, which just awarded Firefly a $13 million subcontract for the spacecraft component.

It will be the company’s first project to be developed in its expanded Texas facility, Gloworks, and will lean on engineering expertise gained from its Blue Ghost lunar lander and Firefly’s Alpha and Eclipse rockets, according to a company statement.

“We’ve proved our ability to execute off-Earth missions at a fraction of the cost and timeline through our successful Blue Ghost lunar mission,” said Ray Allensworth, Firefly’s vice president of spacecraft. “Now we’re applying these lessons learned and utilizing our proven technologies to continue accelerating and lowering costs for future missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond.”

Blue Ghost launched in January 2025, and successfully touched down on the moon about two months later, as only the second commercial lander to ever soft land on the lunar surface. For its Mars contract, though, Firefly will be aiming higher.

Firefly’s aeroshell design will include the Skyfall capsule’s heatshield and its backshell, providing the thermal protection it needs from the Martian atmosphere and the aerodynamic characteristics to guide it safely and accurately out of its exit from the vacuum of space. Unlike Blue Ghost, however, Firefly won’t need to worry about an actual landing.

Instead of delivering its helicopter trio to Mars’ surface, Skyfall will release them mid-descent, where they will take to immediate flight through the Martian sky to begin their resource mapping mission. NASA is calling it the “SkyFall Maneuver.”

The mission aims to demonstrate the applicability of the helicopters’ onboard prospecting instruments. NASA plans to use that data to scout for water ice on Mars’ surface to study potential landing sites for crewed missions in the future.

Once Firefly completes aeroshell development at Gloworks, work will move to the company’s Rocket Ranch in Briggs, Texas, where it will begin manufacturing and testing before being transported to JPL for spacecraft integration.