Light Start – Mars chopper, NES Classic returns, The Predator, and more Rick and Morty

NASA is sending its first interplanetary helicopter to Mars in 2020

Well this is an expensive piece of equipment to send to be destroyed on another planet. NASA’s 2020 Mars rover project is going to be sending Earth’s first interplanetary helicopter to the red planet, where it will be used to survey the planet from a pair of cameras — something that has never been done before. If, that is, it’s able to lift off. The tiny little autonomous craft has been made very light, to deal with the much thinner atmosphere found on Mars. If everything goes as planned, though, the little autonomous chopper is set to make five flights of about 90 seconds each over a month. If the Mars Helicopter (its official title) manages to pull that off, it’ll be counted as a success. The Rover and Helicopter are slated to lift off in July 2020 and will reach Mars by February 2021.

Source: NASA JPL

The NES Classic is coming back, since you probably missed it the first time around

Nintendo brought back the NES Classic way back in 2016 and the retro console promptly sold out just about everywhere. The limited initial numbers meant that a lot of folks missed it but that’s okay. It’s okay now, anyway, because Nintendo is bringing the console back again. The international (re)launch date for the NES Classic is set for 29 June, which means we can expect it shortly after. And just in case you’re anxious about available numbers, Ninty expects to have both the NES Classic and the SNES Classic to be available in enough volume to last out the rest of 2018. Yay!

Source: via The Verge

The perfect hunter returns in The Predator, thanks to… a courier service?

We’re not sure about you but if we were expecting a delivery consisting of an alien mask and gauntlet, particularly when said alien was last encountered wiping out Special Forces soldiers in the jungle, we’d be at home to make sure we got the box. We definitely would not leave it around for a kid to open and play with — especially since he’s not even doing an unboxing video. That seems to be the premise here for The Predator, which brings an upgraded Predator to Earth where our only hope is a crew of ex-soldiers and a… science teacher? Seriously? Americans already don’t pay their teachers enough and now they expect them to repel alien invasions too? Check out the trailer above. Our only complaint is that is nobody says “Get to the choppa!”

Source: 20th Century Fox

Rick and Morty has been renewed for a long, long time

“Aw geez, Rick, I don’t know. I don’t think I can take another bunch of Rick and Morty seasons. It seems awfully dangerous.”
“That’s too bad, Morty, that’s too bad. Because we’ve been signed for another 70 episodes, Morty, that’s another 70 opportunities to cause mayhem at MacDonalds and another 70 potential Pickle Rick incidents. Do you know how much I’m looking forward to that, Morty?”
“All right, Rick, if you say so. I’ll give it a shot. But Rick, when are we starting the next season?”
“No idea, Morty. No idea. But here, hold onto these mega-seeds for me in the meantime, Morty.”

Source: Justin Roiland (Twitter)