NASA takes another step towards Titan. The agency has in fact confirmed the Dragonfly missionrotary-wing aircraft that will explore Saturn’s moon in search of the origin of life.
The mission, with a launch now scheduled for 2028, will search Titan for chemical processes that precede the development of life like those that arose on early Earth.
Confirmation of the mission now allows NASA to complete the final design and then build and test the spacecraft and scientific instruments. The mission will cost a total of $3.35 billion, double the cost of when it was originally selected in 2019. Arrival on Titan is scheduled for 2034. After the historic mission on Mars of the Ingenuity demonstration helicopter, Dragonfly will be the first aircraft equipped with scientific instruments to fly on another planetary body.
This large, eight-rotor drone will visit dozens of sites on Titan, investigating the moon’s surface and shallow subsurface for organic molecules and possible biosignals.
Featured image: Artist’s impression of Dragonfly flying over the dunes of Titan, one of Saturn’s moons. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben
