NASA’s Dragonfly mission, set to explore Saturn’s largest moon Titan, now has a provisional launch date of July 2028 due to budget uncertainties. The car-sized, nuclear-powered rotorcraft drone will fly above and land on the sands of Titan, which is believed to be rich in organic molecules by planetary scientists.
In a statement, Nicola Fox, NASA Science Mission Directorate associate administrator, praised the Dragonfly team for overcoming technical and programmatic challenges and keeping all aspects of the mission moving forward. The delay in the mission’s official confirmation is due to uncertainties about funding in 2024 and 2025. Once those uncertainties are resolved, NASA will reassess the mission’s launch readiness date in mid-2024.
Dragonfly is the only NASA mission scheduled to visit the surface of an ocean moon. Once at Titan, the drone will search for conditions that could imply habitability, investigate prebiotic chemistry, and hunt for signs of water or hydrocarbon-based life that already exist there.
The investigation of Titan is of high priority for planetary scientists because it possesses a thick atmosphere, an Earth-like hydrological cycle, and the potential for habitability. Dragonfly, built and operated by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, will use its equipped cameras, sensors, and samplers to conduct this investigation.
Principal investigator Elizabeth Turtle has expressed her admiration for the team’s willingness to overcome challenges and think outside the box. Many Dragonfly components, including control systems, navigation systems, and a full-scale model, have already been tested in various environments, demonstrating that the team is ready for the next steps on the path to Titan.
