Students from the University of Kentucky have designed a
prototype UAV for Mars exploration with inflatable wings. The
robotic glider is called BIG BLUE (Baseline Inflatable Glider
Balloon Launched Unmanned Experiment). The goal of the project
was to test the system by lofting the UAV to 100,000 feet using
a balloon, inflate the wings, then release the glider for a
controlled flight back to the base. A new NASA article describes
the basics of the project. A map tracking the flight and links
to more photos are available from EOSS, the provider of the
balloon launch services. A previous high-altitude glider project
by another group used fixed wings and lauched from a lower
altitude last year.