NASA researchers are reengineering rotorcraft blades to extend the range of future Mars helicopters. The agency’s Ingenuity helicopter achieved the first powered flight on another planet, but its operational limits were constrained by aerodynamic performance in the Martian atmosphere. Building on that milestone, the SkyFall mission, slated for launch in 2028, plans to deploy a fleet of three helicopters designed to operate farther from a landing site. Engineers at NASA Ames Research Center, in collaboration with Imperial College London and Nagoya University, have developed a new airfoil called roamx-0201. Simulations tailored to Mars’ thin air and wind‑tunnel experiments demonstrated that this asymmetrical, thinner blade shape sustains higher speeds longer before encountering drag divergence, a condition that sharply reduces lift as rotor speeds approach the speed of sound. In testing, the redesigned blades increased the potential single‑flight distance from Ingenuity’s 0.7 kilometers to as much as 18.7 kilometers while carrying scientific payloads. The findings, published in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics journal on September 22, highlight two key improvements: enhanced stall tolerance and a deliberate disturbance of the boundary layer at the blade’s leading edge to generate additional lift. While the technology remains in the testing phase, the work aims to produce helicopters capable of covering greater distances, transporting more instruments, and enabling new scientific investigations on Mars.