NASA’s Dragonfly to Titan: launch planned for **July 2028**; **arrives 2034** to fly between sites and study prebiotic chemistry. It is one of the planned Saturn Missions.
**Dragonfly** is a car-sized, nuclear-powered rotorcraft that will hop across **Titan** to study prebiotic chemistry and habitability.
With eight rotors, a high-gain antenna, an MMRTG “nuclear battery,” and a drill-and-lab for sample analysis, it will make dozens of short flights between dune fields and the **Selk** impact region, turning Titan’s dense air and low gravity into an exploration advantage.
# Arrives Launch **no earlier than July 2028** on **Falcon Heavy**; **arrival in 2034**. After a ~6½–7-year cruise, Dragonfly descends in an aeroshell, deploys parachutes, then flies the final descent under its own rotors.
# Why Titan Titan mixes abundant organic chemistry with water-ice crust and evidence for a subsurface ocean—an ideal natural lab for the origins of life.
Dragonfly targets places where **organics** may have met **liquid water** (e.g., impact-melt at Selk) to test how far chemistry progressed.
# How It Flies Dragonfly charges a large **lithium-ion battery** from its MMRTG during Titan’s **~8-Earth-day night**, then flies during the **~8-day “day.”**
Typical hops are up to **~8–10 km** and **~30 minutes** aloft, with “scout–return–land” patterns to vet new sites. Cumulative traverse is ~**180 km** over ~3+ years.
# Instruments (core suite) - **DraMS — Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer:** laser desorption & GC-MS to identify organics and potential biosignature molecules in drilled samples. - **DraGNS — Gamma-Ray & Neutron Spectrometer:** measures bulk elemental composition beneath the lander. - **DraGMet — Geophysics & Meteorology Package:** “portable weather station” + **seismometer** for winds, weather, and Titanquakes. - **DragonCam — Camera Suite:** panoramic, navigation, and microscopic imaging for geology and landing-site scouting. - **DrACO — Drill for Acquisition of Complex Organics:** acquires/feeds samples to DraMS.
# Landing Site & Traverse Initial operations begin in the **Shangri-La** dune fields; the long-term target zone includes the **~90-km Selk crater**, where impact heat could have created temporary liquid-water environments within organics-rich terrain. Flight modes span short repositioning, longer hops, and high-altitude profiles.
# Power & Comms A single **MMRTG (~100–110 W at start of life)** provides steady electricity and heat; the battery handles peak loads for flight and instruments. Dragonfly communicates **direct-to-Earth** via a deployable **high-gain antenna** (with MGA/LGA backups).
# What We Hope to Learn Map **ice-shell geology**, measure **organic chemistry** across settings, test for **water–rock interaction** products, and constrain Titan’s **meteorology & interior** (via seismology). A strong result would link specific organics and oxidants to past liquid-water episodes—clarifying how habitable chemistry emerges.
# Timeline (at a glance) - **CDR passed:** April **2025** - **Launch (NET):** **July 2028** - **Titan arrival:** **2034** - **Prime mission:** ~**3.3 years** of flights & labs (extendable).
