Designed to explore Titan, the Dragonfly drone has undergone a critical design test. This means engineers can begin direct manufacturing of the spacecraft.
The development of the Dragonfly mission began in 2019. As part of it, NASA plans to send a rotorcraft with a total mass of about 450 kg to Titan. It will be equipped with four twin propellers, allowing it to travel at a speed of about 36 km/h and rise to an altitude of up to 8 km. The drone will use a radioisotope generator as its power source.
Dragonfly’s science equipment will consist of a suite of cameras, spectrometers, and weather sensors. The primary mission of the spacecraft is to search for complex organic molecules and assess the overall suitability of this celestial body for life in the past and present. The drone will be able to collect samples from the surface of the Titan and chemically analyze them. Dragonfly will also study the moon’s topography, its atmosphere and hydrocarbon reservoirs.
On April 24, NASA announced that Dragonfly had successfully passed a critical design test. Passing this stage means that plans for the design, manufacturing, integration and testing of the drone have been approved. Now the engineers can fully focus all their attention directly on building the spacecraft itself.
However, we should not forget that the draft NASA budget proposed by the current U.S. administration involves large cuts — mainly to science and planetary research. At this point, it is unknown how they may affect Dragonfly.
If budget cuts do not affect Dragonfly, the vehicle will be launched using a Falcon Heavy rocket no earlier than July 2028. It will take six years to reach its destination. Dragonfly is designed to operate for at least three years on Titan’s surface.
According to NASA
