Drones Made for Mars to Be Tested in Iceland The Holuhraun eruption lasted from August 31, 2014, till February 27, 2015. mbl.is/RAX Vala Hafstað Holuhraun lava field, north of Vatnajökull glacier, will soon be used by scientists as a testing field for drones developed for exploration on Mars, mbl.is reports. NASA, the US space agency, has awarded USD 3.1 million to a team of scientists, led by Christopher Hamilton, at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, to develop drones that could explore previously inaccessible regions on Mars, news.arizona.edu reports. Several drones have been designed for space exploration in recent years.