Updated

Updated · Forbes · Aug 18

NASA Begins Dragonfly Integration After 13-Foot Fuselage Passes Tests Ahead of 2028 Titan Launch

Updated

Updated · Forbes · Aug 18

NASA Begins Dragonfly Integration After 13-Foot Fuselage Passes Tests Ahead of 2028 Titan Launch

2 articles · Updated · Forbes · Aug 18

Johns Hopkins APL has finished monthlong structural testing of Dragonfly’s nearly 13-foot fuselage ahead of schedule, clearing the Titan rotorcraft for full spacecraft integration.
Engineers are now installing wiring, flight hardware and onboard systems; avionics, science instruments and thermal insulation will be added over the coming months before a planned July 5-25, 2028 launch on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy.
Dragonfly is designed to survive Titan’s -290°F temperatures, methane rain and hydrocarbon dust, using eight rotors and a nuclear power system because the moon gets only 1% of Earth’s sunlight.
Arriving in 2034 for a 3.3-year mission, the craft will become the first controlled aircraft to fly on another celestial body and study prebiotic chemistry on Titan, where Huygens last landed in 2005.

Sources

How will Dragonfly survive atmospheric entry and extreme cold to autonomously navigate an alien world millions of miles from human control?

Why is NASA sending a nuclear drone to a freezing moon with methane lakes, and what early Earth secrets could it uncover?

Could the organic materials hidden within Titan's impact craters finally reveal the universal blueprint for how life emerges in the cosmos?

2 total