NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover travels at a rate of 660 feet per day or 27.5 feet per hour. It is slowed further by obstacles and by caution. When navigating the rover, NASA engineers only have the rovers on board cameras and satellite photography to navigate by.

Those steering the rover must exercise extreme caution because if it gets stuck in loose soil, flips over or slips into a ditch there is no help to send. A piece of multi-million dollar piece of equipment and years of work could be lost.

Beyond risk to the craft itself, NASA researchers could pass within feet of something truly remarkable and not see it.

Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena California believe that they have come up with an inexpensive way to provide an extra set of eyes or two to the next Mars rover.

The proposed Mars Helicopter is a small, solar powered drone that would be attached to the rover but could take off to get a short range aerial view of the rovers surroundings. The drone would fly ahead of the rover each day, investigating the route, possible alternate routes and points of interest. The researchers believe that the drone could triple the distance the rover travelled each day.

In addition to improving the rovers speed and helping to avoid pitfalls and accidents, the helicopter would help with site selection. The rover could gather detail on points of interest, investigate possible sample collection sites, and provide NASA with additional details about the Martian terrain.

The Mars Helicopter proof-of-concept vehicle is expected to weigh 2.2 points, with blades 3.6 feet across from the tip of one blade to the tip of the next, according to a statement from JPL. A video presentation from NASA’s ‘Crazy Engineering’ is available on YouTube.

NASA is also considering the use of virtual reality to improve their view of the terrain around the rover.

In cooperation with Microsoft, researchers are attempting to create a specialized version of the new ‘HoloLens’ headset and Windows holographic technology. The new application is being called OnSight and would use rovers, starting with Curiosity, as a telepresence device.

Using rover data, Onsite would build a 3D simulation of the terrain around the rover. Scientists would then be able to ‘look around’ from a first person perspective before sending new instructions to the rover.

When combined with data from the helicopter drone researchers would even be able to do a simulated walk around before deciding where to send the rover to gather more data or collect samples.

Both of these new technologies would, if all goes well, be included in Mars 2020 rover mission. That mission, which will carry the next generation rover to Mars, is already being equipped with better cameras capable of generating a better view of the rovers surroundings, improved communications equipment, a robotic arm to collect samples and move small debris, a stronger body and wheels with ‘legs’ that will improve the rovers mobility on rough terrain.

Additional information about the mission and the technology involved is available at JPL’s Mars 2020 web site.