Skypersonic delivers drone and rover system for NASA’s Simulated Mars Missions
Skypersonic – a subsidiary of Red Cat Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: RCAT) (“Red Cat” or the “Company”) – announces today that it recently delivered to NASA the hardware and software for a rover and drone system that the crew members of NASA’s Simulated Mars Missions will use to remotely explore Martian-like terrain around Earth – all from their 1,700-square-foot simulated Martian habitat at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
In the Simulated Mars Missions CHAPEA, crew members will spend one year living and working in a habitat at Johnson Space Center that has been designed and built to simulate life on the Red Planet. The Skypersonic drones and rover will be taken to an area on Earth that is similar to Martian terrain – such as a desert or mountainous region – where they will be controlled remotely by crew members in Houston. The exercise is designed to test the ability of astronauts on Mars to remotely explore the planet with drones and rovers.
The hardware and software delivered to Houston were proven in August 2022, when NASA personnel stationed at the Johnson Space Center controlled the Skypersonic drones and rover on the Martian-like environment of Mt. Etna, an active volcano thousands of miles away in Italy. Not only was the surface of the volcano like that of Mars, but there is no GPS signal on Mt. Etna, which gave NASA personnel insight into how the technology would perform on a Martian surface. Because its proprietary remote piloting technology doesn’t rely on GPS, Skypersonic allows pilots, and the drones or rovers they control, to be located virtually anywhere in the world – or out of this world.
“This recent delivery is the latest milestone in our five-year contract with NASA to provide drone and rover hardware, software, and support to the Simulated Mars Missions. We look forward to working closely with the Simulated Mars Missions crews in the coming years to develop and test the prototype of the first drones and rovers to be used by humans on Mars. The challenges are great – extremely thin atmosphere, dramatically cold temperatures, a largely unknown environment – but I am confident we will prevail and advance the science of our industry in the process,” said Skypersonic CEO Giuseppe Santangelo.
NASA personnel trained on piloting the recently delivered drones with Skypersonic’s Martian Simulator, a computer-simulation of the Martian environment based on actual photographs and video of the surface of Mars.
About Skypersonic
Headquartered in Detroit with a European office in Turin, Italy, Skypersonic is a leader in the use of drones for industrial inspections and first response emergency situations, as well as in “Remotely Flying Drones Anywhere™” via its ground-breaking Long Range Real-Time Remote Piloting System. Skypersonic’s flagship is the Skycopter: a drone with a tiltable video camera that is designed to work in extreme conditions and ultra-tight spaces. It is enclosed and protected by an external aerodynamic, ultra-light, and ultra-resistant cage to ensure safety and avoid damage to inspected structures and to the airframe itself. It is also fitted with an ultra-bright 360° LED lighting system for applications in complete darkness, and sensors to detect gases and radiation can also be added. Skycopter uses Skyloc technology: a real-time location and monitoring system able to control and track with extremely high accuracy the movements of the drone in indoor scenarios or where GPS is not available. Skypersonic also invented the first-ever worldwide civil real-time remote piloting system that allows piloting in FPV (first-person view) any drone (not just the Skycopter) located anywhere from a generic internet station located anywhere.
About Red Cat Holdings, Inc.
Red Cat provides drone-based products, services, and solutions through its four subsidiaries and services the enterprise, military, and consumer markets. Teal Drones is a leader in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and its Golden Eagle is one of only a few drones approved by the Department of Defense for reconnaissance, public safety and inspection applications. Skypersonic’s technology enables drones to complete inspection services in locations where GPS is not available, yet still record and transmit data even while being operated from thousands of miles away. Fat Shark is a leading provider of First Person View (FPV) video goggles. Rotor Riot, LLC is a reseller of FPV drones and equipment, primarily to the consumer marketplace. Learn more at https://www.redcatholdings.com.
