Dragonfly (Titan space probe)

*Dragonfly*
	Artist's impression of the Dragonfly spacecraft flying over the surface of Titan
Names	New Frontiers 4
Mission type	Titan rotorcraft
Operator	NASA / APL
Website	dragonfly.jhuapl.edu
Mission duration	10 years (planned); Science phase: 3.3 years
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Rotorcraft lander
Manufacturer	Applied Physics Laboratory
Landing mass	≈450 kg (990 lb)
Power	70 watts (desired) from an MMRTG
Start of mission
Launch date	July 2028 (planned)
Rocket	Falcon Heavy; (baseline)
Titan aircraft
Landing date	2034
Landing site	Shangri-La dune fields
Distance flown	8 km (5.0 mi) per flight (planned)
DraMS
Instruments
DraMS	Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer
DraGNS	Dragonfly Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer
DraGMet	Dragonfly Geophysics and Meteorology Package
DragonCam	Dragonfly Camera Suite
	; Dragonfly Mission Insignia New Frontiers ← OSIRIS-REx (New Frontiers 5) →

Dragonfly is a planned NASA mission to send a robotic rotorcraft to the surface of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. It is planned to be launched in July 2028 and arrive in 2034. It would be the first aircraft on Titan and is intended to make the first powered and fully controlled atmospheric flight on any moon, with the intention of studying prebiotic chemistry and extraterrestrial habitability. It would then use its vertical takeoffs and landings (VTOL) capability to move between exploration sites.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Titan is unique in having an abundant, complex, and diverse carbon-rich chemistry and a surface dominated by water and ice, with an interior water ocean, making it a high-priority target for astrobiology and origin of life studies.^[7] The mission was proposed in April 2017 to NASA's New Frontiers program by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and was selected as one of two finalists (out of twelve proposals) in December 2017 to further refine the mission's concept.^[10]^[11] On 27 June 2019, Dragonfly was selected to become the fourth mission in the New Frontiers program.^[12]^[13] In April 2024 the mission was confirmed and moved to its final development stages.^[14]

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