The Auto'Mate technologies were tested on several DT-25 target drones, and during almost six hours of flight testing, the four successively launched receivers were sequentially controlled and commanded without human interaction. These cutting-edge technologies demonstrate a significant breakthrough for future aerial operations involving manned and unmanned assets, and could reduce crew fatigue, minimize crew-training costs, and provide more effective operations. A second campaign is planned towards the end of 2023, which will explore the use of navigation sensors based on artificial intelligence and enhanced algorithms for autonomous formation flight. This groundbreaking achievement is a significant step towards autonomous formation flight and autonomous air-to-air refueling (A4R), and holds great potential for future aerial operations involving both manned and unmanned assets. "The success of this first flight-test campaign paves the way for developing autonomous and unmanned air-to-air refuelling technologies," said Jean Brice Dumont, Head of Military Air Systems at Airbus Defence and Space.

Nasa's next rover to land on Mars could have a little helper to help keep it safe while exploring the planet's surface. British engineers have been testing a new type of intelligent robot that can be deployed from a larger vehicle on the Martian surface to act as a scout in the surrounding landscape. They hope the scout, which is about 30 inches (76cm) long, will be used on a planned joint Nasa and European Space Agency mission to bring back samples of soil from Mars to Earth. British engineers are testing a new intelligent scout robot (shown). They say it could be deployed from a larger vehicle on the Martian surface.

As expected, the European and Russian space agencies have delayed their next mission to Mars from 2018 to 2020. It is a decision that has been well telegraphed in recent months, with both officials and industry chiefs expressing their doubts that all the hardware could be made ready in time. The mission would see a rover landed on the Red Planet. Capable of drilling up to 2m below the surface, it would search for signs of past or present life. It is the second part of the so-called ExoMars programme. The first part - a satellite to study the atmosphere of the planet - was launched successfully in March and should arrive in October.