posted 06-27-2019 03:22 PM               

NASA Selects Flying Mission to Study Titan for Origins, Signs of Life

NASA has announced that our next destination in the solar system is the unique, richly organic world Titan. Advancing our search for the building blocks of life, the Dragonfly mission will fly multiple sorties to sample and examine sites around Saturn's icy moon.

Dragonfly will launch in 2026 and arrive in 2034. The rotorcraft will fly to dozens of promising locations on Titan looking for prebiotic chemical processes common on both Titan and Earth. Dragonfly marks the first time NASA will fly a multi-rotor vehicle for science on another planet; it has eight rotors and flies like a large drone. It will take advantage of Titan's dense atmosphere – four times denser than Earth's – to become the first vehicle ever to fly its entire science payload to new places for repeatable and targeted access to surface materials.

Titan is an analog to the very early Earth, and can provide clues to how life may have arisen on our planet. During its 2.7-year baseline mission, Dragonfly will explore diverse environments from organic dunes to the floor of an impact crater where liquid water and complex organic materials key to life once existed together for possibly tens of thousands of years. Its instruments will study how far prebiotic chemistry may have progressed. They also will investigate the moon's atmospheric and surface properties and its subsurface ocean and liquid reservoirs. Additionally, instruments will search for chemical evidence of past or extant life.

"With the Dragonfly mission, NASA will once again do what no one else can do," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "Visiting this mysterious ocean world could revolutionize what we know about life in the universe. This cutting-edge mission would have been unthinkable even just a few years ago, but we're now ready for Dragonfly's amazing flight."

Dragonfly took advantage of 13 years' worth of Cassini data to choose a calm weather period to land, along with a safe initial landing site and scientifically interesting targets. It will first land at the equatorial "Shangri-La" dune fields, which are terrestrially similar to the linear dunes in Namibia in southern Africa and offer a diverse sampling location. Dragonfly will explore this region in short flights, building up to a series of longer "leapfrog" flights of up to 5 miles (8 kilometers), stopping along the way to take samples from compelling areas with diverse geography. It will finally reach the Selk impact crater, where there is evidence of past liquid water, organics – the complex molecules that contain carbon, combined with hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen – and energy, which together make up the recipe for life. The lander will eventually fly more than 108 miles (175 kilometers) – nearly double the distance traveled to date by all the Mars rovers combined.

"Titan is unlike any other place in the solar system, and Dragonfly is like no other mission," said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for Science at the agency's Headquarters in Washington. "It's remarkable to think of this rotorcraft flying miles and miles across the organic sand dunes of Saturn's largest moon, exploring the processes that shape this extraordinary environment. Dragonfly will visit a world filled with a wide variety of organic compounds, which are the building blocks of life and could teach us about the origin of life itself."

Titan has a nitrogen-based atmosphere like Earth. Unlike Earth, Titan has clouds and rain of methane. Other organics are formed in the atmosphere and fall like light snow. The moon's weather and surface processes have combined complex organics, energy, and water similar to those that may have sparked life on our planet.

Titan is larger than the planet Mercury and is the second largest moon in our solar system. As it orbits Saturn, it is about 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers) away from the Sun, about 10 times farther than Earth. Because it is so far from the Sun, its surface temperature is around -290 degrees Fahrenheit (-179 degrees Celsius). Its surface pressure is also 50 percent higher than Earth's.

Dragonfly was selected as part of the agency's New Frontiers program, which includes the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, Juno to Jupiter, and OSIRIS-REx to the asteroid Bennu. Dragonfly is led by Principal Investigator Elizabeth Turtle, who is based at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. New Frontiers supports missions that have been identified as top solar system exploration priorities by the planetary community. The program is managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency's Planetary Science Division in Washington.

"The New Frontiers program has transformed our understanding of the solar system, uncovering the inner structure and composition of Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere, discovering the icy secrets of Pluto's landscape, revealing mysterious objects in the Kuiper belt, and exploring a near-Earth asteroid for the building blocks of life," said Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division. "Now we can add Titan to the list of enigmatic worlds NASA will explore."

posted 06-27-2019 03:31 PM               

Destination Titan: NASA Selects Johns Hopkins APL to Lead Mission to Saturn's Exotic Moon

It sounds like science fiction: fly a robotic rotorcraft over the dunes of an alien moon. But NASA is giving a team led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, the opportunity to turn this idea into space exploration reality.

NASA announced today that it has selected Dragonfly, a rotorcraft-lander expedition to Saturn's large, exotic moon Titan, as the next mission in its New Frontiers program. Launching in 2026 and arriving in 2034, Dragonfly will explore dozens of locations across Titan, sampling and measuring the composition of Titan's organic surface materials to characterize the habitability of Titan's environment and investigate the progression of prebiotic chemistry.

"Dragonfly is a bold, game-changing way to explore the solar system," said APL Director Ralph Semmel. "This mission is a visionary combination of creativity and technical risk-taking that will help us unravel some of the most critical mysteries of the universe — including, possibly, the keys to our origins. We're honored that NASA has entrusted APL and our partners with this great opportunity and responsibility."

Scientists consider the icy moon Titan to be the most Earth-like world in the solar system, a virtual chemistry lab that can provide clues to how life may have arisen on our planet. During its 2.7-year baseline mission, Dragonfly will explore environments from organic dunes to the floor of an impact crater, where liquid water and complex organic materials key to life once existed together. Its scientific instruments — to be built by institutions across the nation — will study how far prebiotic chemistry may have progressed. They also will investigate the moon's atmospheric and surface properties and its subsurface ocean and liquid reservoirs.

"Titan is such an amazing, complex destination," said Elizabeth "Zibi" Turtle, Dragonfly principal investigator from APL. "We don't know the steps that were taken on Earth to get from chemistry to biology, but we do know that a lot of that prebiotic chemistry is actually happening on Titan today. We are beyond excited for the chance to explore and see what awaits us on this exotic world."

Titan is larger than the planet Mercury and is the second largest moon in our solar system. As it orbits Saturn, it is about 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers) away from the Sun, about 10 times farther than Earth. Because it is so far from the Sun, its surface temperature is around minus-290 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-179 Celsius). Its surface pressure is also 50% higher than Earth's.

Dragonfly took advantage of 13 years' worth of data from NASA's Cassini mission to choose its targets. It will first land in the equatorial "Shangri-La" dune fields, which are eerily similar to the linear dunes in Namibia in southern Africa, before moving on to other areas in a series of "leapfrog" flights of around 5 miles (8 km), stopping along the way to take samples from compelling areas with diverse geography. It will finally reach the Selk impact crater, where there is evidence of past liquid water, organics — the complex molecules that contain carbon, combined with hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen — and energy, which together make up the recipe for life.

Dragonfly also leverages decades of autonomous drone experience and well-understood flight dynamics on Earth — and applies them in a whole new environment. The dense, calm atmosphere and low gravity make flying an ideal way to travel across Titan; the lander — about 10 feet long and 10 feet across from rotor tip to rotor tip — will eventually fly more than 108 miles (175 kilometers), nearly double the distance traveled to date by all the Mars rovers combined.

"With the Dragonfly mission, NASA will once again do what no one else can do," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "Visiting this mysterious ocean world could revolutionize what we know about how life formed in the universe. This cutting-edge mission would have been unthinkable even just a few years ago, but we're now ready for Dragonfly's amazing flight."

APL brings decades of space exploration experience to the Dragonfly challenge. Having built 70 spacecraft and approximately 300 specialized space instruments, APL has led history-making missions to the extremes of the solar system — from Parker Solar Probe's daring passes through the atmosphere of the Sun, to New Horizons' exploration of Pluto and the distant Kuiper Belt.

Led by Principal Investigator Zibi Turtle and managed by APL, the Dragonfly mission includes key partners at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Lockheed Martin Space, NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Langley Research Center, Penn State University, Malin Space Science Systems, Honeybee Robotics, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. New Frontiers is managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency's Planetary Science Division in Washington.

posted 09-28-2020 09:24 AM               

Dragonfly Launch Moved to 2027

Dragonfly is a NASA mission that delivers a rotorcraft to Saturn's moon Titan to advance our search for the building blocks of life. While Dragonfly was originally scheduled to launch in 2026, NASA has requested the Dragonfly team pursue their alternative launch readiness date in 2027. No changes will be needed to the mission architecture to accommodate this new date, and launching at a later date will not affect Dragonfly's science return or capabilities once at Titan.

The decision to pursue the alternative launch date is based on factors external to the Dragonfly project team, including COVID-19's impact on the Planetary Science Division's budget.

"NASA has the utmost confidence in the Dragonfly team to deliver a successful mission that conducts compelling science," said Lori Glaze, Director for the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Dragonfly will significantly increase our understanding of this richly organic world and help answer key astrobiology questions in our search to understand the processes that supported the development of life on Earth."

Dragonfly marks the first time NASA will fly a multi-rotor vehicle for science on another planet. Taking advantage of Titan's dense atmosphere – four times denser than Earth's – it will also become the first vehicle ever to fly its entire science payload to multiple locations for repeatable and targeted access to surface materials. By surveying dozens of locations across the icy world, Dragonfly will characterize the habitability of Titan's environment and investigate the progression of its prebiotic chemistry.

posted 11-28-2023 06:36 PM               

NASA's Dragonfly to Proceed with Final Mission Design Work

NASA's Dragonfly mission has been authorized to proceed with work on final mission design and fabrication – known as Phase C – during fiscal year (FY) 2024. The agency is postponing formal confirmation of the mission (including its total cost and schedule) until mid-2024, following the release of the FY 2025 President's Budget Request.

Earlier this year, Dragonfly – a mission to send a rotorcraft to explore Saturn's moon Titan – passed all the success criteria of its Preliminary Design Review. The Dragonfly team conducted a re-plan of the mission based on expected funding available in FY 2024 and estimate a revised launch readiness date of July 2028. The Agency will officially assess the mission's launch readiness date in mid-2024 at the Agency Program Management Council.

"The Dragonfly team has successfully overcome a number of technical and programmatic challenges in this daring endeavor to gather new science on Titan," said Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington. "I am proud of this team and their ability to keep all aspects of the mission moving toward confirmation."

posted 04-17-2024 11:00 AM               

NASA Authorizes Dragonfly Mission to Proceed with Estimated 2028 Launch Readiness Date

NASA's Dragonfly mission team is moving on to the next stage of development on the revolutionary, car-sized nuclear-powered drone it plans to fly over and land on the organic-rich sands of Saturn's large moon Titan. NASA has authorized Dragonfly to proceed with work on final mission design and fabrication, known as Phase C. Earlier this year, Dragonfly passed all the success criteria of its Preliminary Design Review. The team also was asked to conduct a replan of the mission based on funding levels in the fiscal year 2024 president's budget request. That replan has been completed and reviewed with NASA, with a revised launch readiness date of July 2028. NASA will officially assess the mission's launch readiness date in mid-2024 at the Agency Program Management Council.

Above: Artist’s impression of Dragonfly soaring over the dunes of Saturn’s moon Titan. NASA has authorized the mission team to proceed on development toward a July 2028 launch date. (NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben)

"The Dragonfly team has successfully overcome a number of technical and programmatic challenges in this daring endeavor to gather new science 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 all aspects of the mission moving."

NASA's only mission to the surface of another ocean world, Dragonfly is designed to investigate the complex chemistry that is the precursor to life. The vehicle, which the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, will build and operate, will be equipped with cameras, sensors and samplers to examine areas of Titan known to contain organic materials that may have previously mixed with liquid water now frozen on the icy surface.

"Dragonfly is such a daring endeavor, like nothing that has ever been done before," said APL's Elizabeth "Zibi" Turtle, Dragonfly principal investigator. "I'm inspired by the way our team has repeatedly overcome challenges by working together and thinking outside the box. We've demonstrated that we're ready for the next steps on the path to Titan, and we'll keep moving forward with the same curiosity and creativity that have brought Dragonfly to this point."

The Dragonfly team has made significant technical strides, among them: a progression of tests of Dragonfly's guidance, navigation and control systems over California deserts that resemble Titan's dunes; multiple flight-system tests in the one-of-a-kind wind tunnels at NASA's Langley Research Center; and running a full-scale, instrumented lander model though temperature and atmospheric pressure simulations in APL's new, 3,000-cubic-foot Titan Chamber.

"The dedicated efforts of the Dragonfly team have been nothing short of heroic," said Bobby Braun, head of APL's Space Exploration Sector. "Engineers, scientists and project management across APL, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the NASA Langley and Ames Research Centers, Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky and our many university and industry partners have formed a seamless team whose experience and expertise is shaping a game-changing mission of exploration. I'm very proud of this team and am confident that they will continue to mature this system in Phase C."

APL manages the Dragonfly mission for NASA. The team includes key partners at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado; Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company; NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California; NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia; Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania; Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, California; Honeybee Robotics in Pasadena, California; NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; the French space agency (CNES) in Paris; the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne, Germany; and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Tokyo.

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

posted 11-25-2024 03:42 PM               

NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Dragonfly Mission

NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the Dragonfly mission, a rotorcraft lander mission under NASA's New Frontiers Program, designed to explore Saturn's moon Titan. The mission will sample materials and determine surface composition in different geologic settings, advancing our search for the building blocks of life.

The firm-fixed-price contract has a value of approximately $256.6 million, which includes launch services and other mission related costs. The Dragonfly mission currently has a targeted launch period from July 5, 2028, to July 25, 2028, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

posted 09-09-2025 09:10 PM               

NASA's Dragonfly Soaring Through Key Development, Test Activities

NASA's Dragonfly mission has cleared several key design, development and testing milestones and remains on track toward launch in July 2028.

Dragonfly, a car-sized, nuclear-powered rotorcraft being designed and built for NASA at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, will explore Saturn's moon Titan. Following launch and a six-year journey to Titan, the Dragonfly rotorcraft will spend over three years investigating multiple landing sites across the moon's diverse surface. Flying a comprehensive science package, Dragonfly seeks to understand Titan habitability and the building blocks of life as we know it.

Hardware is being built and software developed, tests are being completed and analyses verified as the team progresses through its development schedule.

"Dragonfly has moved far beyond a concept on a computer screen – the components of the rotorcraft lander are being built as scientists and engineers transform this bold exploration idea into reality," said Elizabeth "Zibi" Turtle, Dragonfly principal investigator from APL. "From the cleanrooms to the wind tunnels, we're performing critical tests that are informing our next steps of development and demonstrating how Dragonfly will perform on and above Titan's surface."

Recent tests have included aerodynamic analyses of Dragonfly's rotors and durability trials of the foam coating that will insulate the rotorcraft from Titan's frigid temperatures. The science payload is also coming together, with instrument components delivered and set up for additional testing. Flight systems are also being evaluated and the flight radio has been delivered and tested.

Riding the Wind

APL and NASA engineers are wrapping up a monthlong campaign to confirm the performance of Dragonfly's rotors in Titan-like conditions at the NASA Langley Research Center's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel in Virginia.

Bathing the sensor-laden model in a flow of heavy gas that simulates Titan's thick atmosphere, the testing team has been gathering data on the rotor system's aeromechanical performance – looking at factors like stress loads on the rotor arms, and effects of vibration on the rotor blades and lander body – information that will eventually feed into Dragonfly's flight plans and navigation software.

Above: Technicians install and adjust the rotors on the full-scale test model representing half of the Dragonfly lander in the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel facility at NASA's Langley Research Center. During a monthlong testing campaign, the team was able to evaluate rotor system performance in Titan-like conditions. (NASA)

Mass Spectrometer on the Move

Scientists and engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, have completed a critical part of the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DraMS), which will analyze chemical components and processes on Titan, including potentially biologically relevant compounds. The Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer, effectively the "heart" of the DraMS package, has cleared its acceptance review and is being prepared for space-environment tests and integration with other DraMS components.

Above: Members of the Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer team inspect their device, part of the Dragonfly Mass Spectrmeter (DraMS) instrument package, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. (NASA)

Keeping Dragonfly Warm

APL engineers have completed structural and thermal testing of the foam insulation for the Dragonfly lander, verifying that the insulation will maintain its shape and protect the lander on Titan, where ambient temperatures get to approximately -300 F (or about -185C). The lander body will be covered in a 3-inch-thick (7.6-centimeter thick) layer of Solimide-based foam, which is designed to cover science instruments and other exterior elements. The team has tested the insulation in the large Titan-environment chamber at APL, as well as in the wind tunnel at NASA Langley.

Above: Mozany Sosmath prepares a segment of Dragonfly's foam insulation for testing in the Titan Chamber at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. (Johns Hopkins APL/Justin Artis)

Long-Distance Communications

Engineers at APL have completed the flight radios that will serve as the communications receiver and transmitter for Dragonfly's journey to and operations on Titan. The APL-developed Frontier radios are versatile telecommunications devices proven on missions from the Sun to Pluto and beyond. As a software-defined radio — where software is used to customize the radio for specific mission requirements — the Frontier is smaller and needs less power than other deep-space radios, and can send and receive signals in a wide range of frequencies.

Above: Dragonfly is using the APL-developed Frontier radio, a versatile telecommunications device that is smaller and needs less power than other deep-space radios, and can send and receive signals in a wide range of frequencies. (Johns Hopkins APL)

Ensuring Safe Entry

Engineers at Lockheed Martin in Denver have passed the first set of major milestones for the flight aeroshell, taking a big step toward making sure the casing that will protect Dragonfly upon its arrival at Titan can withstand the extreme thermal and structural loads of a ballistic atmospheric entry. This includes fabrication, cure and thermal-cycle testing of the aeroshell heatshield and backshell structures, with a static test campaign and thermal protection system installation up next.

Above: Lockheed Martin engineers have completed the fabrication, cure and thermal cycle testing of Dragonfly's aeroshell heat shield (pictured) and backshell structures, taking a big step toward making sure the casing that will protect the rotorcraft upon arrival at Titan can withstand the extreme conditions of atmospheric entry. (Lockheed Martin)

Dragonfly will formally begin its integration and test phase in January 2026. The mission is scheduled to launch in July 2028 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch vehicle from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.