NASA Dragonfly: the mission to fly on Titan, the moon of Saturn

NASA Dragonfly is the latest task announced in these hours by the U.S. Space Agency! This is an ambitious fresh opportunity for researchers around the globe to find out how life on Earth might have originated.

The task includes landing on Titan, Saturn's moon which, due to its design and composition, has long attracted researchers ' attention. Especially the organic compounds on which to construct life could be used as basic "construction blocks."

Unlike other tasks, however, NASA Dragonfly seeks to have a rover that can jump into the atmosphere and then move on the moon quicker. The formal timelines talk of a 2026 launch and an 2034 arrival (except for possible delays due to technical problems or budget reductions).

What we can consider as a drone (distinctive object of its kind) will contain eight rotors and use Titan's atmosphere to float in the air. This is because the moon's atmosphere is four times denser than the earthly atmosphere that allows the drone to fly.

The NASA Dragonfly mission is expected to last 2.7 years (which can however be expanded) and study from the dunes to the crater's bottom. In the latter case, something fundamental to life may have been created by water and organic matter.

Titan's structure, from the atmosphere to the depths, will also be studied to know how the moon is composed and where fresh data could be discovered.

The first region to be "touched" will be "Shangri-La" comparable to Namibia's dunes and then the Selk tank. The drone can fly up to 8 kilometers per charge and will be charged with an RTG (as for Curiosity). There should be a complete trip of 175 kilometers.

The mission is particularly complex as flying a drone on Titan 1.4 billion kilometers from the Sun with a surface temperature of -179 ° C will be essential.