Nasa wants to send a mini-helicopter to explore secrets of the Red Planet

Flying on the red planet is not easy. The thin air at the surface of Mars is the equivalent of being 100,000 feet above Earth

NASA currently has two cars roaming Mars — the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers. But the next one it will send there will carry a vehicle with a new approach for planetary exploration: A helicopter.

The space agency announced the decision on Friday to add a small helicopter — about four pounds with a fuselage the size of a softball and blades that span just over three and a half feet, tip to tip — to its Mars 2020 mission, which is to launch in July 2020 and arrive at Mars the following February.

“We’re very excited about this and the