NASA's Dragonfly mission is making progress to build a nuclear-powered drone for Saturn's moon Titan, targeting launch in 2028. The mission involves extensive collaboration and technological advancements to explore Titan's organic materials and their potential connections to life.

Artist's impression of Dragonfly soaring above the dunes of Saturn's moon Titan. NASA has authorized the mission team to continue development and strive for launch in July 2028. Image source: NASA/JohnsHopkinsAPL/SteveGribben

NASA's Dragonfly mission team is entering the next phase of development of a revolutionary, car-sized, nuclear-powered drone that plans to fly over and land on the organic-rich sands of Saturn's large moon Titan.

Earlier this year, Dragonfly passed all success criteria at its preliminary design review. The team was also asked to reframe the mission based on funding levels in the fiscal year 2024 presidential budget request. The rescheduling has been completed and reviewed with NASA, with a revised launch readiness date of July 2028. NASA will formally evaluate the mission's launch readiness date at an agency program management board meeting in mid-2024.

Dragonfly on the surface of Titan. Source: NASA/JohnsHopkinsAPL

"The Dragonfly team successfully overcame a series of technical and programmatic challenges in this bold attempt to collect new scientific information on Titan," said Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "I am proud of this team and their ability to keep progress on all aspects of the mission."

Dragonfly is NASA's only mission to the surface of another ocean world and aims to study the complex chemical reactions that are the precursors of life. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, will build and operate the vehicle, which will be equipped with cameras, sensors and samplers to examine areas of Titan known to contain organic matter that may have previously been mixed with liquid water now encased in ice.

Artistic impression of Dragonfly as it flies over Titan. Source: JohnsHopkins/APL

Dragonfly's chief researcher, APL Elizabeth "Zibi" Turtle, said: "Dragonfly is a bold attempt that has never been done before. I’m inspired by how our team works together, thinks outside the box, and overcomes challenges time and time again. We've proven that we're ready for the next step on the road to Titan, and we'll continue forward with the same curiosity and creativity that brought Dragonfly to where it is today. "

More than a decade before a real "dragonfly" flies over Titan's organic dunes, the team developing NASA's rotary-wing lander at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is refining the concept by flying a model of the instrument over the dunes of Earth's deserts. In May 2022, a team of APL engineers ventured back to California's Imperial Sand Dunes to send a dragonfly "test bed" into the sky to collect the data they need to develop guidance, control and navigation algorithms for actual dragonflies. Source: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

The Dragonfly team has made significant technical progress, including: a series of tests of Dragonfly's guidance, navigation and control systems in the California desert that resemble Titan's dunes (see video); multiple flight system tests in NASA's Langley Research Center's unique wind tunnel; temperature and atmospheric pressure simulations in APL's new 3,000-cubic-foot Titan capsule, and the operation of a full-scale, instrumented lander model.

Collaborative efforts and future expectations

"The dedicated efforts of the Dragonfly team are nothing short of heroic," said Bobby Braun, director of APL's Space Exploration Division. "APL, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Langley Research Center and Ames Research Center, Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky, and Together with our many university and industry partners, the experience and expertise of engineers, scientists and project managers form a seamless team that is shaping a game-changing exploration mission. I am extremely proud of this team and confident they will continue to refine this system during Phase C."

Dragonfly is the fourth mission in NASA's New Frontiers program and is managed from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Compiled source: ScitechDaily