"Reviving Martian Flight: The Future of Aerial Exploration on the Red Planet"

A new concept for a robotic flying vehicle called MAGGIE has been selected for phase 1 development by NASA's NIAC program, with the potential to explore Mars from the sky. The vehicle would be launched to Mars on a rocket, descend through the thin atmosphere using a heat shield and parachute, and then use solar-powered propellers for exploration. MAGGIE's capabilities include reaching speeds of Mach 0.25 and covering a range of 16,048 km on Mars. The project aims to investigate how MAGGIE could operate in the thin atmosphere and could potentially study Mars' magnetism, methane plumes, and more. This concept is one of several projects funded by NIAC, including a sample-return mission to Venus and a mission to explore the nearest star system.