Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab make a breakthrough in rotor technology

NASA JPL tested next-generation Mars helicopter rotors in a space simulator and pushed them to Mach 1.08 without damaging the hardware.

The two-bladed design for the SkyFall mission produced about 30% more lift than earlier concepts.

The breakthrough could let future Mars rotorcraft carry heavier batteries and science instruments and fly longer missions.

The result builds on lessons from Ingenuity and may also inform aerial exploration beyond Mars, including Titan.