Dragonfly: NASA’s Most Exciting Mission This Century Is Taking Shape

NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy in July 2028 and spend six and a half years crossing the solar system to land on a moon that has weather, seasons, rivers and seas — with methane and ethane flowing across its surface instead of water.

In July 2028, if the current schedule holds, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy will rise from the same Florida launch complex used by Apollo and begin sending a car-sized aircraft toward Saturn. The rocket will be familiar. The payload and destination will not. NASA’s Dragonfly is a nuclear-powered rotorcraft built to fly through the dense atmosphere of Titan, land, drill into the ground, analyse samples, recharge, and then fly again. It will carry its whol…

Dragonfly: NASA’s Most Exciting Mission This Century Is Taking Shape

NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan has passed critical tests as the space agency’s revolutionary Titan rotorcraft moves a step closer to its 2028 launch.