New Delhi: NASA has started to assemble the Dragonfly rotorcraft, headed to Saturn’s moon Titan, along with testing to ensure that the probe will survive
the vibrations of the launch, and can operate reliably in the extreme conditions of space. The activities are proceeding at the clean rooms and control rooms of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland. The car-sized, nuclear-powered drone is being integrated in partnership with teams from government, industry and academia. NASA plans to launch the mission no sooner than 2028. It will reach its target after a six-year journey.
The rotorcraft will be able to fly between regions, examine a range of diverse sites, and study the chemistry, geology and atmosphere of the hydrocarbon-rich moon, suspected to harbour a global subsurface saltwater ocean. The moon is similar to a primordial Earth, and the investigations can advance our understanding of how life emerged on Earth. Titan may host an exotic form of life on the surface, based on hydrocarbons, as well as the more familiar carbon-based lifeforms in the subsurface ocean. The Dragonfly rotorcraft is the first probe being built that is capable of flying across another world with surface liquids.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy to launch Dragonfly
Realising the Dragonfly rotorcraft is expected to continue through the year, into early 2027. System-level testing is planned at Lockheed Martin, after which the lander will return to APL for final space environment testing before being shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, for launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket. The science payloads are coming together at locations across the United States and internationally as well. Dragonfly integration and test lead at APL, Annete Dolbow said, “We’ve spent years designing and refining this amazing rotorcraft on computer screens and in laboratories, and now we get to bring all those elements together and transform Dragonfly into an actual flight system.”
